David Muir Reports from the Frontline of the Heroin Epidemic in "Breaking Point: Heroin in America," Airing Friday, March 11 at 10:00 p.m. EST on ABC
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The rate of opioid overdoses has tripled since 2000. In fact, more than 100 Americans die every day from drug overdoses – more people than gunshot wounds or car accidents. ABC News announces “Breaking Point: Heroin in America,” a “David Muir Reporting” hour that takes viewers beyond those statistics with an unvarnished report on several families struggling with heroin addiction and the lack of help. In one family a young husband and wife start rehab with startlingly different results. In another family, Muir explores the rising incidence of mothers and their newborn babies both dependent on heroin. The “David Muir Reporting” hour airs on “20/20” Friday, March 11 (10:00-11:00 p.m. EST) on the ABC Television Network.
All across America deaths from heroin are spiking; an epidemic many experts trace back to the explosion in the use of prescription painkillers. Muir goes inside the unfolding tragedy in New Hampshire and beyond. New Hampshire has one of the highest rates of overdose deaths and ranks 49th among all states for access to treatment. Even as the state starts to mobilize to fight back, addiction’s toll has continued to soar due to a synthetic opiate 50 times more powerful than heroin – Fentanyl – that drug dealers often mix into their product.
Muir reports from the quiet towns of New England where this deadly scourge has forced tough questions from those battling at the frontline from a paramedic teaching middle school children how to inject a life saving opioid antidote and nurses caring for babies born addicted to heroin to law enforcement officers struggling to halt the crisis and activists from every walk of life trying to educate their community and sometimes save their own families.
The ABC special documents the disease that knows no boundaries - affecting the rich, poor, and middle class, old and young and shows the universality of the experience where everyone knows somebody touched by heroin’s devastation.
ABC News is partnering with affiliates across the nation to detail the problem in each city’s backyard for additional reporting on ABCNews.com.
“Breaking Point: Heroin in America” will air on ABC News programs and platforms, including “World News Tonight with David Muir,” “Good Morning America,” “Nightline,” ABCNews.com, ABC News Radio and ABC NewsOne.
David Muir is anchor of “World News Tonight” and “20/20.”
David Sloan is senior executive producer of “20/20.”
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ABC2020 and www.facebook.com/DavidMuirABC
Twitter: @ABC2020 and @DavidMuir
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