Want to Help an Addict? Call the Cops.

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data on drug-related deaths in the United States in 2016. The numbers are staggering. Approximately 64,000 people died of overdoses, a 22 percent increase over 2015. More than 60 percent of deaths involved opioids, a class of extremely addictive drugs that include pain medications like Percocet, Vicodin and OxyContin, as well as heroin.