American addiction. From prescription painkillers to heroin. The numbers are staggering. Why?

American Opioid Addiction Keeps Growing

In this Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015, photo, Dorothy McIntosh Shuemake, mother of Alison Shuemake, browses a picture collage of her daughter at her home, in Middletown, Ohio. Alison Shuemake, 18, died Aug. 26, after a suspected heroin overdose. (AP)

opioid

Economy

Health

Life

Heroin

policy

A man battling heroin addiction describes how understanding his dependency on the drug as a chronic condition has helped him feel less ashamed, get better treatment and ultimately, stay sober longer.

No Blame, No Shame: Treating Heroin Addiction As A Chronic Condition

Martha Bebinger

Reporter

Some medical professionals express frustration that patients struggling with addiction are not always treated as though they suffer from a chronic illness. (Hadley Green for WBUR)

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Boston

Medicine

Personal Health

Google Editor's Picks

Our ongoing coverage of addiction, opioids and the broader overdose crisis in Massachusetts.

Addiction and the overdose crisis

Dr. Daniel Alford, who oversees the clinical addiction research and education unit at Boston Medical Center, sheds some light on the opiate addiction crisis facing Massachusetts.

Addiction Expert Discusses Statewide Surge In Heroin Overdoses

Bob Oakes

Senior Correspondent

An educational pamphlet and samples of naloxone, a drug used to counter the effects of opiate overdose, are displayed at a fire station in Taunton. (Elise Amendola/AP)

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Vermont's Gov. Peter Shumlin: 'We're Losing The Battle'

On Point Blog

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin just devoted his entire State of the State speech to the scourge of heroin. We'll look at the heroin tide in pastoral Vermont and across the nation. 

A Heroin Scourge In Idyllic Vermont

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, right, departs the Statehouse House Chamber after the Governor's State of the State Address in Montpelier, Vt., on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2014. (AP)

Shumlin

Politics

peter-shumlin

Rachel Zimmerman

The Heroin Wars: Drug Use Surges In East — And Beyond

heroin

Money

Annie Brewster

Physician

Harvard Wife, Mother & Heroin Addict: A Survivor's Story

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Alcohol More Dangerous Than Heroin, Researchers Report 

research

Heroin

American Opioid Addiction Keeps Growing

On Point

No Blame, No Shame: Treating Heroin Addiction As A Chronic Condition

Local Coverage

Addiction Expert Discusses Statewide Surge In Heroin Overdoses

Local Coverage

Vermont's Gov. Peter Shumlin: 'We're Losing The Battle'

On Point

A Heroin Scourge In Idyllic Vermont

On Point

The Heroin Wars: Drug Use Surges In East — And Beyond

Local Coverage

Harvard Wife, Mother & Heroin Addict: A Survivor's Story

Local Coverage

Alcohol More Dangerous Than Heroin, Researchers Report

Local Coverage