210 - Overdose and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Obama's Drug Czar Michael Botticelli on America's Opioid Epidemic

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of opioid overdose have increased dramatically but this is only due in part to disruption of services and increased isolation. Michael Botticelli, former head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the Obama administration and 32 years into his own recovery, talks with guest host Brendan Saloner about how America's opioid epidemic was already on a terrible trajectory prior to the pandemic, policy solutions to address overdose, the importance of combating stigma against addiction, and what needs to happen next.

KEYWORDS: substance use; policy; harm reduction