Government health officials say the abuse of prescribed medications causes more accidental deaths in the United States than anything else except automobile crashes, which kill more than 30,000 Americans every year. Representatives of five federal agencies on Tuesday presented the Obama administration's new plan for reducing prescription drug abuse and saving lives.
美国政府卫生官员说，滥用处方药每年造成3万多人死亡，是美国除交通事故之外的最大意外死亡原因。4月19日，美国五个联邦机构的代表公布了奥巴马政府拟定的管制处方药品滥用、以挽救生命的新计划。
At the age of 15, Hanna Leos became a drug addict after a high school classmate began sharing with her some powerful prescription anti-anxiety pills.
汉娜·雷奥斯15岁那年，因为服用高中同学给她的强力抗抑郁药，结果上了瘾。
"Benzodiazapines, Valium, Xanax, Clonapin, Lorazapam," Leos called out.
These drugs can be found in the medicine cabinets of many American homes. So can opioid pain killers. Teenagers in growing numbers have been using their parents' prescription drugs to get high.
很多美国人家庭的药柜里都有这类药，还包括鸦片类的止痛药。越来越多的青少年为了获得那种飘飘然的感觉而服用父母的处方药。
"They're prescribed and they get them filled and they just sit there,” she noted. “They sit there for a long time so the kids can take them all."
汉娜说：“这些都是处方药，父母取药后，就放在那儿。由于存放时间很长， 孩子们可以把这些药都拿走。”
Pharmacists like David Vandriesche are aware of the problem.
药剂师戴维·范德里什了解这个问题。
"You hear about people, they had their grandson, granddaughter come visit, then they're running short [of their medication] and refilling it early and they're not sure what happened," he stated.
他说：“有些人家里有孙子孙女的。他们来取药，时间还没到就来取，他们也不知道是什么原故。”
At a joint press conference Tuesday, federal health officials and representatives from drug enforcement agencies announced the Obama administration's new National Prescription Drug Abuse Plan, the first comprehensive federal plan for controlling the intentional misuse of doctor-authorized medications.
在4月19日的联合记者会上，联邦政府卫生官员和药物管理当局的代表共同宣布了奥巴马政府的这个防止处方药物滥用计划。这是联邦政府第一个控制处方药故意误用的全面计划。
It includes retraining one million doctors on proper prescription practices, creating databases to track prescription painkillers and other controlled drugs, educating the public about the danger of prescription drug abuse and stepping up law enforcement.
这个计划包括对100万名医生进行合理开具处方的再培训，建立追踪处方止痛药以及其它管制药品的资料库，让公众了解滥用处方药的危险性，以及加大执法力度。
Gil Kerlikowske is President Obama's national drug policy director.
奥巴马总统的国家药品政策办公室主任吉尔·克里考斯克说：
"The prescription drug problem cuts across all of the age groups. No one should put a face [on it] that this is a young person's problem, a wealthy person's problem. This cuts across all the demographics," Kerlikowske said.
“处方药问题存在于各个年龄层，没有任何人能说这只是青少年的问题，或者是有钱人的问题。这是所有人群的问题。”
Hanna Leos went to jail after she was caught writing her own prescriptions. But she is still alive and recovering from her addiction.
药物成瘾的汉娜·雷奥斯后来因为伪造处方而入狱。但是她至少还活着，现在正在戒除药瘾。
Rich Perry died of a prescription drug overdose at the age of 21. His addiction started in high school. Perry's parents, Karen and Rich Perry, support the administration's plan for prescription drugs.
而里奇·培里就没这么幸运了。他也是高中时服药成瘾，结果21岁那年死于服药过量。里奇的父母支持政府的处方药管制法令。
"We weren't aware of it because Rich behaved like any normal kid. He was getting good grades. He was on the golf team. He was just like any other kid," Perry explained.
里奇的父亲说：“我们没有意识到这个问题，因为里奇表现得和正常孩子一样。他的学习成绩好，还是高尔夫球队的球员。他就和其他孩子一样。”
Their son's addiction didn't stop at prescription drugs. He became a heroin user. Heroin is cheaper than prescription pain killers like Oxycontin. The Perrys put him in a treatment program. But addiction is a disease in which relapse is almost normal.
里奇不仅仅是服用处方药，后来还用上了海洛因。因为海洛因比一些处方止痛药便宜。里奇的父母让他接受治疗。可是毒瘾是一种病，再犯几乎是常见的现象。
"But each time....they go into the treatment, they get a clearer understanding of what the signs are and how to prevent it, Of course, there's always that risk that they don't make it to the next time in treatment. My son did not," Karen Perry said.
里奇的母亲说：“他们每经过一次治疗，就更明白毒瘾的迹象是什么以及如何防范。当然会有等不到下一次治疗的风险。我的儿子就是这样。”
The Perrys started a task force to prevent other families from losing a loved one from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.
里奇·培里的父母发起了一个行动，帮助其他家庭避免因为滥用处方药而失去亲人。 |