Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy said Wednesday that, throughout the country, more and more people over 50 are becoming addicted to opioid-based painkillers like Oxycodone.
"The fastest growing segment of the population using opioid and abusing opioid are people 55 and older who get addicted during a knee transplant or hip transplant or simply because someone has overprescribed," he said.
Malloy was addressing the state’s Alcohol and Drug Policy Council.
The council is charged with helping all state agencies develop plans to address substance abuse concerns in Connecticut.
Malloy called on the council to concentrate on the key areas of treatment, addiction and overdose prevention, and educating medical professionals on how to prescribe a reasonable amount of opiates.
He said there were more than 300 accidental deaths from prescription opioid overdose and heroin abuse in Connecticut last year.
