By Dr Bertha K. Madras1
The United States has the ignominious distinction of leading the world in opioid prescribing,1 and in opioid-related overdose deaths. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that over 40,000 people died of an opioid-related overdose, with fentanyl-related deaths exceeding those of heroin or prescription opioids.2 Opioid overdoses are now the leading cause of unintentional deaths in the US and of declining lifespan expectancies. 3 With a worsening crisis, agencies of the US government and others produced an array of reports on the opioid crisis. Yet the death rate escalated further from 2010 to the present.
For Full Briefing COMBATING OPIOID CRISIS