opioidsDon Fletcher

Opioids and the foster care crisis
Facing out-of-county, out-of-state placements By DON FLETCHER News Staff Writer Adults across the nation have fallen victim to the addictive powers of opium-based prescriptions and other substances — some legal, some not. And, while the focus of the national pandemic has been on the effects these substances have on those adults, the real losers have been the children of the addicts. Escambia County, Alabama, has seen its share of opioid-driven…
Help available for opioid addiction
By DON FLETCHER News Staff Writer Note: This article is the second in a two-part series on the opioid crisis and its effect locally. This article deals with the options available for those addicted to opium-based pain medications. The term “opioids was initially used only in reference to synthetic opiates — drugs created to mirror opium, but chemically different. Now the term is used for the entire family of opiates,…