From left to right: Felito Diaz, Julio Cesar Santiago, Richard Lopez and Irma Bermudez meet at Casa Esperanza, a treatment and transitional housing program in Roxbury, Mass. Jesse Costa/WBUR hide caption
opioid overdoses opioid overdoses
WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 15: U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill November 15, 2017 in Washington, DC. Adams testified about community-level health promotion programs and businesses that offer incentives to employees that practice healthy lifestyles. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption
Samples of blood and other bodily fluids at the coroner's office in Marion County, Ind., are tested for controlled substances. Jake Harper/Side Effects Public Media hide caption
Omissions On Death Certificates Lead To Undercounting Of Opioid Overdoses
Side Effects Public Media
Emergency rooms are seeing a jump in opioid overdoses. Timely treatment with naloxone can reverse the effects of opioids. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption
Bottles of Purdue Pharma L.P. OxyContin medication sit on a pharmacy shelf in Provo, Utah, in 2016. George Frey/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption
The state of Alabama is suing Purdue Pharma LP, the maker of OxyContin, for allegedly fueling the opioid crisis by deceiving doctors about prescription painkillers. Toby Talbot/AP hide caption
Philadelphia officials cleared the way for a safe injection site for drug users. But there are many details to work out before the idea can become reality. Matt Rourke/AP hide caption
Tom Petty performing at Wrigley Field, Chicago, in June 2017. The coroner said Friday that he died of an overdose of a combination of drugs in October. Rob Grabowski/Rob Grabowski/Invision/AP hide caption
Life expectancy in the U.S. has fallen for the second straight year, in part because of the surge of overdoses on opioids, such as oxycodone. John Moore/Getty Images hide caption