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If you or your family have ever dealt with addiction, you know exactly how heart-wrenching it can be for all involved.

Louisiana ranks 11th in the country overall when it comes to states with the worst drug abuse problems according to WalletHub.com's recent report 'Drug Use By State: 2022's Problem Areas.'

Unfortunately, the news doesn't get much better from there. WalletHub.com's report says that Louisiana is 12th in the nation when it comes to drug usage and addiction, 21st in law enforcement, and 14th with regard to drug health issues and rehab. Ouch!

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Did you know that there were over 100,000 deaths due to drug overdoses in the United States over a 12-month year ending in April 2021? I'm sure that's due in part to the pandemic, but the problem remains. That figure was a 28.5% increase over the prior year. This is clearly an issue. Here's the breakdown of WalletHub.com's research spanning 21 metrics including arrests, overdose rates, opioid prescriptions issued, and employee drug testing laws.

Source: WalletHub

I was shocked to learn that Louisiana ranks 4th in the country when it comes to the 'most opioid prescriptions per 100 people.' We keep hearing about an opioid crisis, but why are so many doctors still writing prescriptions for them if there are other options available? Another sad statistic is that WalletHub.com found that Louisiana ranks 5th for the most drug arrests per capita. While I'm happy to hear we're getting drugs off the street, we also have to work the problem from other angles, like rehabilitation, education, etc...

Come on, Louisiana. We can do better.

[WalletHub.com]

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