Alabamians receive more painkiller prescriptions than anyone else in the country, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2012, there were 143 prescriptions per 100 people in the state. Are doctors partially responsible for the rise in heroin use? "Yes," says Dr. Mark Wilson, health officer for Jefferson County. "I think the doctors in Alabama, by and large, want to do the right thing, they want to help their patients alleviate suffering, that's what almost all of us went into medicine to do," said Wilson, chief executive of the Jefferson County Health Department.
