npr.org: How To Fight The Opioid Crisis In The Middle Of A Pandemic

2/4/2021

Tablets suspected to be fentanyl are placed on a graph to measure their size at the Drug Enforcement Administration Northeast Regional Laboratory in New York.

DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images

We saw a staggering number of deaths from COVID-19 in 2020. But it wasn't the only public health crisis that claimed the lives of many of our loved ones.

From May 2019 to May 2020, 81,000 people died of a drug overdose in the US. It's the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a 12-month period, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The main cause was synthetic opioids.

During this episode, we check on the effort to finally end the decades-long crisis.

We're also revisiting a landmark case about a single doctor working out of a clinic in Queens, New York.

Charlotte Bismuth, Erin MarkevitchDr. Andrew Kolodny, and Emily Walden join us for the conversation.

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