Dr. Brian F. Sands, Section Chief for Substance Use Veteran Affairs (NY) speaking at Operation Survival’s opioid awareness event at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. “In order to help addicts, one must first understand addiction”, stated Dr. Sands. He explained that individuals who are socially isolated, unhappy, with no clear goals in life or proper emotional support, are at high risk to develop addiction, stressing that “teenagers are more easily addicted than adults,” and shared a few alarming statistics: 56% of addicts found the drugs they started with in the family medicine cabinet. 16 years of age is when the average user starts taking pills. By the time they reach 20, the majority of addicts will experience an overdose. 25% of people on prescription pain killers will move on to heroin when they can’t access pills due to the high costs in the street.
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