Published 18:39 IST, September 6th 2019
Australia: Mother fights to save 22-year-old son from opioid addiction
A woman from Fountaindale, Australia is fighting to save her 22-year-old son's life against a system that produced cheap and affordable pharmaceutical opioids.
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A woman by name of Deb Ware from Fountaindale, Australia looked in horror at her son, a 22-year-old wearing ult diapers as if he h a stroke. Sam Ware was stranger to death since he started to have an extreme liking for pharmaceutical opioids from time he h his wisdom tooth extracted and in past year, he overdosed more than 60 times.
A family's fight against opioid diction
For past three years, she fought to save her son's life against a system that produced cheap and affordable pharmaceutical opioids in a place that has earned tag of a country that has witnessed a steep increase in opioid diction and deaths related to it.
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Even after Deb Ware's efforts to bring back her son from world of opioid diction sponsored by government, she was in a helpless condition as preparations were being done to put her son Sam in a state of coma.
Sam was 19 years old when it all began for him, a kid with a decent job as a factory machine operator. In October 2015, his dentist told him to have his wisdom tooth removed. He went back home with a doctor's prescription of an opioid painkiller. prescription re that sam h to take two pills but he started to take four and that gave him a buzz which me him feel safe and warm. It was relatively easy for Sam to get painkillers as he h to only walk into a pharmacy with a prescription and get drugs.
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With America witnessing deaths of about 4 lakh people due to opioid overdose, Australia is being marred by its own crisis of drug overdose and death. It has still happened after US is perfect example and despite warnings dating back to more than 10 years from health professionals from Australia.
Deb Ware's family is one of many families who are locked in a battle with death against opioid diction. Medical examiners have asked concerned authorities to tackle menace of drug diction and to create a tracking record that will put an end to people's attempts to buy drugs with multiple prescriptions from different doctors.
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t a life-saving drug anymore
After facing strict rules regarding distribution of drugs in America, pharmaceutical companies turned ir hes towards countries that have a relatively relaxed system and Australia was perfect destination for m and country's authorities have been a bit slow to take into account growing menace and do something about it.
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families destroyed because of opioid diction are w present at every coast and rates of people dying have doubled in over a dece. Without stringent measures that tackle mentioned problem, Australia may be on a path that ends with a higher death rate as compared to that of US.
A person by name of Jasmin Raggam said that one is safe from problem at hand. She lost her bror in 2014 due to opioid diction and w faces problem of her bror in law being dicted to opioid OxyContin. She furr ded that even after she did her research, everyone turned a deaf ear towards her and it felt as if she was shouting at top of her lungs but one even responded.
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initial use for se opioids was to treat short term pain or related to cancer. But towards end of 20th century, in 1990s, companies manufacturing se drugs started to market ir product in an aggressive manner.
Researcher Emily Karanges said that beginning in 2000, Australia began to pass and subsidize certain drugs used to treat chronic and or n-cancer pain. se approvals happened at same time when re was an increase in consumption of opioid which nearly increased 3 folds between period 1990-2014.
17:10 IST, September 6th 2019