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Podcast: New Books In Public Health
Episode: Kant Patel and Mark E. Rushefsky, "The Opioid Epidemic in the United States: Missed Opportunities and Policy Failures" (Routledge, 2021)
Description: The current opioid epidemic in the United States began in the mid-1990s with the introduction of a new drug, OxyContin, viewed as a safer and more effective opiate for chronic pain management. By 2017, the opioid epidemic had become a full-blown crisis as over two million Americans had become dependent on and abused prescription pain pills and street drugs.The Opioid Epidemic in the United States: Missed Opportunities and Policy Failures (Routledge, 2021) examines the origins, development, and rise of the opioid epidemic in the United States from the perspective of the public policy process. The authors, political s...