The opioid abuse epidemic in the United States was already urgent when the COVID-19 pandemic began, but health authorities fear the virus has made the opioid epidemic even worse. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report released in December 2020 notes that 10 western states saw opioid overdoses increase in that year. Most...
Tag: opioid
Three Major Myths About Opioid Addiction
Yale Medicine experts share opinions on common misconceptions that may be preventing people from getting help. Between 2015 and 2016, drug overdose deaths went from 33,095 to 59,000, the largest annual jump ever recorded in the United States. That number is expected to continue unabated for the next several years. We talked to a panel...
Beating Opioid Addiction
Researchers and clinicians at Yale School of Medicine advocate a medicine-centric approach to dealing with opioid addiction. On average, two people die of drug overdose every day in Connecticut. Although the growing availability of the overdose antidote naloxone has saved many lives, the death toll from opioid overdose is still staggering. There’s growing recognition that...Continue reading