EXTRA: The Opioid Tragedy — How We Got Here

Freakonomics Radio

An update of our 2020 series, in which we spoke with physicians, researchers, and addicts about the root causes of the crisis — and the tension between abstinence and harm reduction.

• SOURCES:
  • Gail D’Onofrio, professor and chair of emergency medicine at the Yale School of Medicine and chief of emergency services at Yale-New Haven Health.
  • Keith Humphreys, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University.
  • Stephen Loyd, chief medical officer of Cedar Recovery and chair of the Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council.
  • Nicole O’Donnell, certified recovery specialist at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Addiction Medicine and Policy.
  • Jeanmarie Perrone, professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Eileen Richardson, restaurant manager.

• RESOURCES:
  • “Toward Healthy Drug Policy in the United States — The Case of Safehouse,” by Evan D. Anderson, Leo Beletsky, Scott Burris, and Corey S. Davis (The New England Journal of Medicine, 2020).
  • “Buprenorphine Deregulation and Mainstreaming Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder,” by Leo Beletsky, Kevin Fiscella, and Sarah E. Wakeman (JAMA Psychiatry, 2018).
  • “Emergency Department–Initiated Buprenorphine/Naloxone Treatment for Opioid Dependence,” by Gail D’Onofrio, Patrick G. O’Connor, Michael V. Pantalon, Marek C. Chawarski, Susan H. Busch, Patricia H. Owens, Steven L. Bernstein, and David A. Fiellin (JAMA, 2015).
  • “Buprenorphine-Naloxone Therapy In Pain Management,” by Lucy Chen, Kelly Yan Chen, and Jianren Mao (National Institutes of Health, 2014).
  • “Prevalence and Correlates of Street-Obtained Buprenorphine Use Among Current and Former Injectors In Baltimore, Maryland,” by Jacquie Astemborski, Becky L. Genberg, Mirinda Gillespie, Chris-Ellyn Johanson, Gregory D. Kirk, Shruti H. Mehta, Charles R. Schuster, and David Vlahov (U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, 2014).
  • “The Promotion and Marketing of OxyContin: Commercial Triumph, Public Health Tragedy,” by Art Van Zee (U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, 2009).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Why Is the Opioid Epidemic Still Raging?" series by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • "The Opioid Tragedy, Part 1: 'We’ve Addicted an Entire Generation,'" by Freakonomics Radio (2020).
  • “The Truth About the Vaping Crisis,” by Freakonomics Radio (2019).