The cost of alcoholism takes many factors into consideration. Consequently it isn’t always easy to calibrate. That’s one of the reasons the costs themselves are rarely even considered. It’s also one of the reasons those costs are so considerable. But a new JAMA study shows we ignore those costs at our peril.
Everyone expected the COVID pandemic to fuel the opioid epidemic, but no one expected such stratospheric overdose numbers. They sure didn’t expect those numbers to keep rising. Then again, how could they? No one had ever faced such a devastating one-two punch before.
