Addiction Specialist Discusses Drug Overdoses And How To Address Them

Many of us saw the heartbreaking videos over the past month of what happens when parents allow their drugs addictions to overtake them and leave their young children crying for help and in danger. Such was the case in Ohio where police posted photos of two adults, believed to have overdosed on heroin, passed out in a car with a 4-year-old boy in the backseat, and in Massachusetts where a mother passed out in a store from an apparent opiate overdose as her two-year-old girl cried for her.

With that in mind, KPEL’s Rob Kirkpatrick and Bernadette Lee decided to bring in Hanley Center Clinical Director Dr. John Dyben, addiction specialist, to shed some needed perspective on the subject.

“Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the United States,” said Dr. Dyben, opening the conversation.

Dr. Dyben addressed the first step in dealing with an addiction – asking the question to the addict, “What are you losing in your life, or giving up, because of this addiction?”

He also spent time breaking down how addictions affect people of varying age groups, from the young to the old.