Addicts inject themselves in May 2011 at the Insite supervised injection center in Vancouver, Canada. Laurent Vu The/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
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opioid overdoses
Shell neurons (green) project to the breathing center and core neurons (red) project to the pain/emotion center. Brain scientists have found the two are linked, shedding new light on opioid overdoses Salk Institute hide caption
A brain circuit linking pain and breathing may offer a path to prevent opioid deaths
State's attorney Brad Beckworth lays out one of his closing arguments in Oklahoma's case against drugmaker Johnson & Johnson at the Cleveland County Courthouse in Norman, Okla. in July. The judge in the case ruled Monday that J&J must pay $572 million to the state. Chris Landsberger/AP hide caption
Oklahoma Wanted $17 Billion To Fight Its Opioid Crisis: What's The Real Cost?
Authorities intercepted a woman using this drug kit in preparation for shooting up a mix of heroin and fentanyl inside a Walmart bathroom last month in Manchester, N.H. Fentanyl offers a particularly potent high but also can shut down breathing in under a minute. Salwan Georges/Washington Post/Getty Images hide caption
Fentanyl-Linked Deaths: The U.S. Opioid Epidemic's Third Wave Begins
A man who goes by the name Dave Carvagio holds a packaged syringe in Pickering Square in Bangor, Maine. The Bangor chapter of the Church of Safe Injection sets up a table in the square and offers free naloxone, needles and other drug-using supplies. Jesse Costa/WBUR hide caption
'Church Of Safe Injection' Offers Needles, Naloxone To Prevent Opioid Overdoses
Nine-year-old Gabriella Santamaria holds up a picture of her uncle Stephen who died from a heroin overdose during a 2017 candlelight vigil for victims of drug addiction in Staten Island. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption
The contents of the naloxone kit inside an AED box located in the VA West Roxbury cafeteria. Jesse Costa/WBUR hide caption
VA Adding Opioid Antidote To Defibrillator Cabinets For Quicker Overdose Response
A man holds a sample of the opioid antidote Narcan during a training session at a New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene office in March. Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
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
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