Montana's 'Pain Refugees' Leave State To Get Prescribed Opioids

Federal authorities say about 78 Americans die every day from opioid overdose. In Montana, health care officials report that abuse there is worse than the national average. But the casualties of the opioid epidemic are not all drug abusers.

On a recent night, three Montana residents, who call themselves pain refugees, are boarding an airplane from Missoula to Los Angeles. They say that finding doctors willing to treat chronic pain in Montana is almost impossible, and the only way they can get relief is to fly out of state....
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/07/20/481771231/montanas-pain-refugees-leave-state-to-get-prescribed-opioids?ft=nprml&f=1001