Opioid addiction by Americans continues to skyrocket.
That's the finding of a new study from Blue Cross Blue Shield that shows the number of people addicted to both prescription and illicit opioids rose nearly 500 percent from 2010 to 2016. The analysis of the insurance company's members found about one and a half cases of opioid abuse among every 1,000 members in 2010. By 2016 that number rose to more than eight out of 1,000.
The number of people in South Florida who overdose stands at about 4,800 a year – that’s two every hour.