Life expectancy in the United States dropped for the second consecutive year in 2016 and is fuelled by a surge in fatal drug overdoses, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
As the US is facing the worst drug crisis in its history, a generation of children is being neglected, abandoned or orphaned by parents addicted to opioids.
Children who live in homes where drug abuse is prevalent are often at risk themselves, causing a generational cycle of drug addiction. The rate of drug overdoses among American teens has increased by almost one-fifth in 2015 after years of decline, according to a report by the National Center for Health Statistics.
Alexis Lightle is a 17-year old student from the town of Chillicothe, Ohio. She lost both her parents to drugs and grew up with her grandmother.
This is her story in her own words.
Video in the link below
A Generation Of Kids With Addicted Parents
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Heroin's children: My life inside the US opioid crisis
This is not going to get any better for them anytime soon.