Killing Americans for Fun And Profit? –

Jan 30, 2018, – The state’s overdose death rate was 48.3 per 100,000 people that year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In comparison, the state’s homicide rate in 2016 was 5.9 per 100,000, and its rate of fatal car crashes was 15. The opioid epidemic goes back to the 1990s, with the release of OxyContin and mass marketing of prescription painkillers, as well as campaigns like “Pain as the Fifth Vital Sign” that pushed doctors to treat pain as a serious medical problem. Doctors subsequently prescribed opioids in droves, leading to a proliferation of pills that eventually ended up not just with patients but also teens rummaging through their parents’ medicine cabinets, other family and friends of patients, and the black market.
Full Story @ Vox.com