Excellent article. I have a few clarifications, though. Most people are not dying from drug overdoses. They are dying from a poisoned drug supply. You did mention fentanyl, which is added to already illegal drugs to make them more potent. More recently, researchers have found benzodiazepines (a tranquilizer) are also being mixed in with cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines. There is also carfentanyl, which is 100 times more powerful than fentanyl. People with a substance use disorder are desperate. They buy street drugs, which are mixed in home labs by people who are not chemists - they are people who want to make as much money as possible as quickly as possible. Cheaper fillers are used to make buyers believe they are getting more for their money.

The ideal strategy would be to address the root cause (often childhood trauma), but people are being poisoned before they can access the psychological help they need.

In my mind, the most effective way to prevent the deaths is to provide a safe supply. That would include "those" drugs - heroin and cocaine. The war on the dealers has only led to more dealers and more deaths. Providing a safe supply would put the cartels out of business, and it would keep people alive until real treatment is available at a price they can afford. An extra bonus is that desperate users would not be committing crimes to get enough money to buy the drugs that their bodies crave.