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Measuring the Opioid Crisis: The Need for Standardized Cause-of-Death Reporting

By J. Alexander Short

All too often, the modern opioid epidemic is reduced to numbers. Over 70,000 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States in 2017. This marked a substantial increase from the more than 63,000 deaths reported in 2016. So many news articles, books, and even policymakers depend on these numbers as an accurate measure of the opioid crisis. However, can we rely on their accuracy?

Unfortunately, there are surprising inconsistencies in the reporting of drug overdose deaths that warrants further investigation. Read More