In The News: New documentary takes a look at prescription drug abuse epidemic

Laura Evans, FOX 5 WTTG
 

Now, our nation's leaders are calling it a public health crisis that has reached epidemic proportions. It is getting so bad that it is getting attention from Hollywood to the halls of Congress. Even the president is getting aggressive in the fight.

Lawmakers are taking on the fight too. Maryland Congressman John Sarbanes (D) introduced legislation to give patients at risk of addiction, but who need painkillers, access to a co-prescription for naloxone, a drug that reverses the effects of an overdose.

“If that person ends up in an overdose situation, naloxone is there, the family knows how to use it and administer it, and that can combat overdose and bring that person really back from the brink,” said Sarbanes.