Crisis Point: Turning the Tide in The Opioid Crisis

Our mini-docuseries has returned, taking a comprehensive look at public health crises affecting the United States today, with global implications tomorrow. If the crisis point is the moment where a crisis will worsen or begin to get better, the question remains: where are we now?

Addressing the Opioid Crisis: Efforts to Turn the Tide

This episode examines the growing and evolving opioid crisis, a public health emergency that has claimed more than half a million lives over the past 2 decades in the United States.

What began as a prescribing-driven epidemic has evolved into a more complex crisis fueled by the proliferation of illicit synthetic opioids, persistent gaps in access to treatment, and social determinants that drive vulnerability to substance use disorder.

In 2023, the overall rate of mortality from drug overdoses slightly fell for the first time since 2018.1 The decrease could be due to a number of factors, including new pharmaceutical options for treating opioid use disorder, a shift away from opioid prescribing regimens, regulatory and advocacy action, and even the COVID-19 pandemic. While the decrease is a positive sign for those working with OUD, overdose deaths related to illicitly manufactured fentanyl, fentanyl analogs, methamphetamine and cocaine remain at historic highs and the work is only beginning.

Be sure to check out part 1 of this episode, which into the complex challenges surrounding OUD, exploring how the opioid crisis has evolved and grown in recent years and how new pharmaceuticals and prescribing regimens may be helping to turn the tide.

In part 2, the conversation shifts to ongoing advocacy and regulatory action and significant progress in turning the tide in the opioid crisis so far.2

Brief descriptions of the speakers featured in this project are provided below:

Angel Goenawan, MD, hospitalist at Bayhealth in Delaware

Bobby Mukkamala, MD president-elect of the American Medical Association (AMA) and chair of the AMA’s Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force

Michele J. Buonora, MD, MS, MSHS, assistant professor of medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore Einstein

Shoshana Herzig, MD, assistant professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

For more video content, visit our Crisis Point page to see other episodes on improving health equity in eye care, disparities in cardiovascular health, insulin access in the United States, physician burnout across healthcare, and the ongoing obesity crisis.

REFERENCES

1. U.S. Overdose Deaths Decrease in 2023, First Time Since 2018. Webpage. CDC. May 15, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2024/20240515.htm

2. AMA Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force recommendations. Webpage. AMA. 2025. https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/nation-s-overdose-epidemic/ama-substance-use-and-pain-care-task-force

3. HHS Announces Transformation to Make America Healthy Again. Webpage. HHS. March 27, 2025. https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-restructuring-doge.html

4. More than a dozen states, DC sue Trump administration over ‘dismantling’ of federal health agencies. Webpage. CNN. May 5, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/05/health/states-sue-trump-administration-hhs-rfk