U.S. Facing Two Opioid Epidemics

The headlines have become grimly familiar: “More than 20 overdose deaths hit Middlesex in 3 weeks,” “Opioid overdoses kill 10 people in 12 days in Sacramento area,” “Opioid abuse has death grip on Tennessee.”

But there’s a problem with this umbrella term “opioids.” It hides the fact that Americans are actually dying from two separate scourges: some are succumbing to heroin, others to prescriptions drugs like OxyContin, Percocet, and Vicodin.