It’s time to call the opioid epidemic a public health emergency

(By Benjamin Bearnot & Mark Eisenberg for STAT)

Last month, the Obama administration declared a public health emergenc¹y in Puerto Rico to cope with the spread of the Zika virus. There’s no question that Zika poses a threat to public health, but its magnitude is uncertain. In contrast, we know that the opioid epidemic² is killing more than 500 Americans a week and harming thousands more. Why isn’t that a public health emergency, too? Continue reading article here…..

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