opioid crisis
Prescription addiction plague
The opioid crisis is the epidemic of addiction, overdose, and death caused by opioid drugs—prescription painkillers like oxycodone, illegal drugs like heroin, and synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
Beginning in the 1990s with aggressive marketing of prescription opioids as safe, the crisis has killed hundreds of thousands in the United States alone: The opioid crisis devastated rural communities.
Policy responses range from treatment expansion to lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies.
- overprescriptionExcessive medication ordering
- doctor shoppingSeeking multiple prescribers for drugs
- synthetic opioidsLaboratory-created pain-blocking drugs
- naloxoneOpioid overdose antidote
- addictionCompulsive substance reliance
withdrawal symptoms · overdose · drug courts · harm reduction · safe injection sites · economic burden · fentanyl · incarceration rates · Purdue · healthcare providers · pharmaceutical companies · chronic pain management · substance abuse · methadone · homelessness · rust belt · addiction specialists · heroin
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