For every one million Americans, almost 50,000 doses of opioids are taken every day. That's four times the rate in the UK.
There are often good reasons for taking opioids. Cancer patients use them for pain relief, as do patients recovering from surgery (codeine and morphine are opioids, for example).
But take too many and you have a problem. And America certainly has a problem.
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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41701718
