No way to treat addicts

It looks as though the VA is having problems treating veterans who have become addicted.  The Center for Investigative Reporting asserts that prescriptions for four opiates – hydrocodone, oxycodone, methadone and morphine – have surged by 270 percent in the past 12 years.  This is not because of an increase in the number of veterans being treated, as 270% is much less than the rate at which the growth in VA patients has occurred. A 2011 study by the VA's Health Services Research and Development Service reported that veterans seen by the agency’s doctors were dying from prescription drug overdoses at nearly twice the national average.  It looks as though the agency is overmedicating its patients as it struggles to keep up with their need for more complex treatment; the agency has issued more than one opiate prescription per patient, on average, for the past two years.