“Trump Administration Declares Opioid Crisis A Public Health Emergency”

President Trump declared a public health emergency to deal with the opioid epidemic Thursday, freeing up some resources for treatment. More than 140 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The opioid epidemic is the rapid increase in the use of prescription and non-prescription opioid drugs in the United States. Opioids are a diverse class of moderately strong painkillers, that can also be synthesized into other opiates such as heroin. The potency and availability of these substances, despite their high risk of addiction and overdose, have made them popular. Opioids in high doses present the potential for respiratory failure and death. "We are currently dealing with the worst drug crisis in American history," Trump said, adding, "Addressing it will require all of our effort.” Trump directed agency and department heads to use all appropriate emergency authorities to reduce the number of deaths caused by the opioid crisis. The administration will also launch an ad campaign so that young people can see "the devastation and ruination [drugs cause] people and people's lives."

In Other News One in four students report being bullied, but not all say they are bullied the same way. And some students are more likely to experience bullying than others. That's what one new survey found after posing questions to more than 180,000 students across 412 schools between 2012 and 2017. The data, collected by the nonprofit organization Youth Truth Student Survey, looked at fifth- through 12th-graders in 37 states. "If you are an educator and you have a feeling that bullying is a problem," says Jen Wilka, the executive director of Youth Truth, "now you are able to have information about what proportion of students are being bullied and how it is happening." And that's the goal of the survey, Wilka says — help teachers understand bullying in order to help prevent it. http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/10/27/553845463/learning-how-bullying-happens-in-order-to-prevent-it Glass-bottom pool will freak you out http://www.cnn.com/videos/travel/2017/04/10/glass-bottom-pool-will-freak-you-out-orig-tc.cnn