Drugs

Just a couple of years ago the opioid crisis was in the news on a regular basis but it has now been mostly forgotten. From 1999 to 2017 400,000 people died from opioid overdoses which is over 20,000 per year. In 2018 47,000 died and in 2019 50,000 died. The response by government has been an education program regarding drug use and money is being allocated to develop overdose reversing drugs. The government also put pressure on China to stop exporting fentanyl. While these are positive steps the problem doesn't seem to be going away. Opioids like oxycontin are very effective pain relievers and when used properly can be a great benefit. It is the misuse of these drugs that cause most of the deaths. This can be said about all drugs.