facebook-pixel

Keith Humphreys: Reducing demand isn’t enough to fight the opioid crisis

FILE - In this Friday, April 5, 2019, file photo, a protester gathers containers that look like OxyContin bottles at an anti-opioid demonstration in front of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services headquarters in Washington, D.C. The U.S. has backed away from recommending opioids for long-term treatment of chronic pain. Nevertheless, companies continue pushing the drugs in other countries, and consumption is growing. Researchers in Brazil report, for example, that prescription opioid sales have increased 465 percent in six years. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)