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Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released some heartbreaking statistics. Not about COVID-19, but about drug overdose deaths, which reached a new record high during the pandemic. 

In the 12 months between May 2020 to April 2021, 

over 100,000 people died of drug overdoses in the United States

. Three-quarters of those deaths were from opioids, the class of drugs that include heroin, prescription pain relievers such as oxycodone and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. That’s an almost 30 percent increase in drug overdose deaths from the previous 12 months. 

MPR News host Angela Davis talks to a history professor whose new book is about the opioid epidemic, an addiction doctor and a drug counselor about the devastating toll of opioid addiction and new approaches in treatment. 

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More than 75,000 people died last year in the United States from an opioid overdose. MPR News host Angela Davis talks about why more people are using opioids and what we’re learning about how to treat opioid addiction.

MPR News with Angela Davis - More than 75,000 people died last year in the United States from an opioid overdose. MPR News host Angela Davis talks about why more people are using opioids and what we’re learning about how to treat opioid addiction.

MPR News with Angela Davis - The opioid reckoning in Minnesota

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The opioid reckoning in Minnesota

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