Tag: opioids

For the past several years, American attention has been fixated on fighting opioid overdoses, revealing communities in economic and social distress. Now, two of the largest U.S. pharmacy chains, CVS and Walgreens, announced agreements to pay about $5 billion each to settle lawsuits nationwide over the toll of opioids. This crisis has cost the U.S. economy $29 billion in lost productivity, and $14.8 billion in criminal justice costs. Unfortunately, the related plagues of drug abuse and death have stalked African-American communities for decades, garnering little to no attention, leaving one to question just how vulnerable they are economically.