Drug addiction and overdose

Guests: Catherine Saint Louis, Jeanmarie Perrone and Jose Benitez

In this hour, we’ll discuss drug addiction and overdoses. First, we’ll be joined by CATHERINE SAINT LOUIS, a New York Times reporter, to discuss the rise in infant drug dependence in rural areas. Then, why has the Philadelphia region, the city and surrounding suburbs, seen a dramatic spike in fatal overdoses in the last few weeks? There were also spikes in overdoses in South Jersey and Bucks County. This hour we’ll talk about the surge in drug overdoses and what can be done to prevent the fatalities. We’ll be joined by JOSE BENITEZ, Executive Director of Prevention Point Philadelphia, and by JEANMARIE PERRONE, the Director of Medical Toxicology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. They are both members of the Mayor’s Task Force to fight opioid addiction in Philadelphia.