President Barack Obama can convene all the task forces, panel discussions and summit meetings he wants, and they may actually be useful. But a lasting solution to America's opioid epidemic depends mostly on a meaningful change in physicians' attitudes about treating addiction.
About 2 million Americans are hooked on prescription pain relievers, and some 20,000 people overdose each year, a rate that nearly quadrupled from 1999 to 2008. Two of the most crucial steps in fighting this epidemic are reducing the number of opioid prescriptions written (259 million in 2012 alone, more than one for every U.S. adult) and expanding access to medical treatment.
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