WASHINGTON — There’s an epidemic sweeping the country, causing thousands of needless deaths each month and billions in economic damage. The government response is haphazard. Many Americans remain resistant to the prevention and treatment strategies shown to work best.
It’s not Covid-19.
It’s the country’s “other” health emergency: accelerating drug overdoses, which could soon, for the first time, claim 100,000 U.S. lives in a single year. Yet while Washington treated the addiction crisis as a top priority just two years ago, the coronavirus pandemic has made it an afterthought.
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