WHITE DEATHS RISE FROM DRUGS, ALCOHOL

MIAMI: Middle-aged white Americans are dying at increasing rates from drug and alcohol use and suicide, in what researchers described on Monday as an “epidemic” that raises concern for the future. Since 1998, mortality rate among US whites aged 45-54 has risen steadily, and while the reasons remain unclear experts pointed to increasing availability of prescription painkillers, a subsequent shift toward heroin, and economic struggles. – AFP