The Opioid Crisis: Understanding America’s Deadly Addiction with Professor Thad Polk

Drug overdose deaths have skyrocketed in the United States over the last few decades, creating what we now know as the opioid crisis. For example, in 1968, a little over 5,000 people died from a drug overdose in the US. In 1990, that number had grown to about 8400. But why are opioids, like fentanyl, so dangerous? […]

The opioid crisis is very real, and very deadly. And if we want to stop it, or at least reduce the damage, we need to understand how these drugs work at a biological and neural level. What Are Opioids? How do they produce the effects that they produce? Why are they so addictive? And is there anything we can do to counteract their effects? […]

Beyond simply avoiding social triggers, or the use of naloxone and methadone, scientists are busier than ever looking into new ways to stem the tide of the growing opioid crisis. […]