AUDIO – DEAR MR. FANTASY –

Dec. 30, 2022 – You know, A, I think it’s helpful to remember how the COVID pandemic kept changing – right? – as different strains of the virus emerged. Well, the opioid epidemic is kind of similar. The type of opioids keeps changing. First, we had prescription pain pills sold by drug companies and pharmacies. They ignited this public health crisis. Then people shifted to heroin, which is more dangerous. And now what we’re seeing is more and more people using fentanyl, which is this deadly synthetic opioid that’s so powerful, it’s contributing to a drop in American life expectancy. The CDC now says overdose deaths appear to have peaked in March of this year, but at a really deadly level, 110,000 Americans dying from drugs in a single 12-month period.

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