Category: Village of Ridgewood

the straff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, The Ridgewood Health Department warns you that he misuse of and addiction to opioids—including prescription pain relievers, heroin, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl—is a serious national crisis that affects public health as well as social and economic welfare. According to the US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), more than 130 people in the United States died every day from opioid-related drug overdoses in 2016 and 2017. In 2016, more Americans died due to opioid overdoses than car crashes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that the total “economic burden” of prescription opioid misuse alone in the United States is $78.5 billion a year, including the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal justice involvement. From cities and suburbs to rural America, opioid addiction and overdose is “the crisis next door”. The United States is in the throes of an opioid epidemic, as more than two million Americans have become dependent on or abused prescription pain pills and street drugs. In October 2017, the President of the United States declared the opioid crisis a national public health emergency.