Opioids and Senior Care—the Ripple Effect

Even if you’ve been avoiding the depressing evening news and have cut the newspaper from your budget, you’re probably still well aware we’re in the midst of an opioid epidemic.

The signs of the crisis are everywhere—even literally in many pharmacies, where naloxone is advertised as an antidote to opioid overdoses.

Every day, more than 116 people in the United States die after overdosing on opioids. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the total economic burden of prescription opioid misuse in America is $78.5 billion a year, including the costs of health care, lost productivity, addiction treatment and criminal justice involvement.

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