美国国家公共电台 NPR Rural Colorado's Opioid Connections Might Hold Clues To Better Treatment

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: 

Heroin¹ and prescription² painkillers³ are fueling a rise in overdoses around the country, and research shows rural areas are particularly at risk. From Colorado, Luke Runyon of member station KUNC has this on the connection between rural life and opioid addiction⁵.

LUKE RUNYON, BYLINE⁶: Melissa Morris got her first prescription when she was 20. She had a C-section, and her doctor sent her home with Percocet. She took one and laid down on her bed.

MELISSA MORRIS: And I remember thinking to myself, oh, my God, is this legal? How can this feel so good?

RUNYON: She was hooked. Soon after, she started taking the pills recreationally, shopping around for doctors who'd write new prescriptions⁷.

MORRIS: It starts out Vicodin, Percocet.

RUNYON: Then it was Oxycontin, then the highly addictive⁸ and potent⁹ Fentanyl.

MORRIS: And then it's heroin. That's the holy grail.

RUNYON: Morris started stealing to fund her addiction, then got into the drug trade herself, raising money to buy more heroin.

MORRIS: And you can buy a gram of heroin for 50 bucks¹⁰, and it'll last you five days longer. So that's why so many people here have turned to heroin.

RUNYON: Morris lives in Sterling¹¹, Colo., a two-hour drive east of Denver out on the plains. About 14,000 people live here. A state prison is the top employer. And since 2002, the death rate from opioid overdoses in this county has nearly doubled. And it's not just Sterling. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of deaths nationwide in which opioids were involved quadrupled over the last 15 years. And the death rates are rising fastest in rural areas.

JACK¹² WESTFALL: The number one issue we're facing is opioids.

RUNYON: Jack Westfall is a family physician and researcher at the University of Colorado. He works with a network of rural clinics and hospitals in the state.

WESTFALL: We don't know what to do with this wave of people who are using opioids. They're in the clinic. They're in the ER. They're in the hospital. They're in the morgue because they overdose.

RUNYON: But what's causing the spike¹³? University of California Davis epidemiologist Magdalena Cerda says a mix of risk factors has made rural America more susceptible¹⁴ to opioid addiction. In the economic recovery after the 2008 recession, rural counties consistently lagged behind cities, losing jobs and population.

MAGDALENA CERDA: You have a situation where people might be particularly vulnerable to perhaps using prescription opioids to self-medicate a lot of symptoms of distress¹⁵ related to sources of chronic¹⁶ stress, chronic economic stress.

RUNYON: Cerda also says the specific types of jobs more prevalent in rural areas - like manufacturing, farming and mining - tend to have higher injury rates, leading to more pain and, in turn, more pain killers⁴. Other research points to the unique social structures in rural America as a potential cause.

KIRK DOMBROWSKI: One of the things that I think probably is counterintuitive to most of what we think of as a small town is that rural people actually have much larger social networks than urban people.

RUNYON: Kirk Dombrowski is a sociologist¹⁷ at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He says rural people have more friends and family in similar situations.

DOMBROWSKI: And that gives them more opportunities to know where to get drugs, and so some of those social factors of being in a small town can definitely contribute.

MORRIS: This is what the wrapper looks like.

RUNYON: Back at her home in Sterling, Melissa Morris takes a small piece of orange film out of her purse.

MORRIS: And then you put it on your tongue and you let it dissolve there.

RUNYON: Morris stopped using heroin four years ago and now depends on Suboxone, a less potent opioid used to wean people off heroin. It's in short supply in many rural communities, in part because few rural doctors have gone through the required training to prescribe it. Morris drives to a clinic two hours away to pick hers up. She recently introduced two friends, also addicted¹⁸ to opioids, to the clinic she goes to weekly for treatment.

MORRIS: I used to sell them pills and heroin and stuff. So I do have hope because I've seen success stories.

RUNYON: That strong connection among small-town residents could be part of what spread the opioid epidemic¹⁹. But it could also be what helps to fix it. For NPR News, I'm Luke Runyon in Sterling, Colo.

1 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

2 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

3 painkillers   

n.止痛药( painkiller的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The doctor gave him some painkillers to ease the pain. 医生给了他一些止疼片以减缓疼痛。 来自辞典例句
• The primary painkillers - opiates, like OxyContin - are widely feared, misunderstood and underused. 人们对主要的镇痛药——如鸦片剂奥施康定——存在广泛的恐惧、误解，因此没有充分利用。 来自时文部分

4 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

5 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 prescriptions   

药( prescription的名词复数 )； 处方； 开处方； 计划

参考例句：

• The hospital of traditional Chinese medicine installed a computer to fill prescriptions. 中医医院装上了电子计算机来抓药。
• Her main job was filling the doctor's prescriptions. 她的主要工作就是给大夫开的药方配药。

8 addictive   

adj.(吸毒等)使成瘾的，成为习惯的

参考例句：

• The problem with video game is that they're addictive.电子游戏机的问题在于它们会使人上瘾。
• Cigarettes are highly addictive.香烟很容易使人上瘾。

9 potent   

adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的

参考例句：

• The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
• We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。

10 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 sterling   

adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑)

参考例句：

• Could you tell me the current rate for sterling, please?能否请您告诉我现行英国货币的兑换率？
• Sterling has recently been strong,which will help to abate inflationary pressures.英国货币最近非常坚挺，这有助于减轻通胀压力。

12 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

13 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

14 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

15 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

16 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

17 sociologist   

n.研究社会学的人，社会学家

参考例句：

• His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
• Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。

18 addicted   

adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的

参考例句：

• He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
• She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。

19 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。