Opioid Abuse Has Death Grip on Tennessee

(The Tennessean, April 3) Will Bell was a high school football player who took opioid painkillers so he didn't feel the pain from tackling or lifting, but they weren't his own pills. He got them from a friend, and slowly moved up the ladder to more powerful drugs before he fell into addiction. Now, 26, he is clean for the past 14 months after seeking help. He's one of the lucky ones—at least 1,263 Tenneseeans died from opioid overdose in 2014. According to the CDC, for every death, there are another 851 in various stages of misuse, abuse and treatment, meaning at least 1,074,813 in Tennessee alone are at risk of overdose from opioids. READ MORE.