Teachers and students: Watch this PBS NewsHour Facebook Live recorded on Wed., October 11th on how schools are teaching students about opioid addiction.

Starting in the 1990s, chronic pain patients were given high levels of synthetic opiates to relieve pain. Some patients misused the painkillers, while others became addicted. In the 2010s, individuals who became addicted to painkillers turned to heroin after state governments started to clamp down on the number of prescriptions physicians could write. Currently, about 33,000 people die each year from opiate-based prescription drugs and heroin overdose in the U.S. Young people are at high risk of addiction and overdose. Recovery high schools are growing in popularity because many addiction treatment programs do not accept teenagers. There are currently about 40 recovery high schools across the U.S.

October 10, 2017 video and resource materials from PBS NewsHour.