Ep016 - How unattached men are driving the opioid crisis

The opioid crisis has been slowly getting worse over the past decades, but seemed to reach a critical mass during COVID. Even though opioid related deaths had been growing every year, 2020 still saw a 37% increase in deaths (68,630) over the previous year (50,042). 2021 saw even more opioid overdose deaths.  One demographic overrepresented in these deaths of despair is single prime-age men. Patrick Brown and I discuss the causes and possible solutions in this episode.  Patrick T. Brown is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where his work focuses on developing a robust pro-family economic agenda and supporting families as the cornerstone of a healthy and flourishing society. His writing has been published in The New York Times, National Review, Politico, The Washington Post, and USA Today, and he has spoken on college campuses and Capitol Hill on topics from welfare reform to child-care and education policy. You can find Patrick on the app formerly known as Twitter at @PTBwrites, and I’ll link to the articles that originally kicked off this conversation in the show notes.  Opioids and the unattached male What ‘Painkiller’ Omits About the Opioid Crisis Patrick Brown on X/Twitter