Can America solve its opioid crisis?

MORE THAN 650,000 Americans have died of overdoses since the start of the opioid epidemic. Fentanyl, easily available and dangerously powerful, killed seventy thousand people in 2021 alone. Now, as the federal government estimates more than five million people struggle with an opioid addiction, states are increasingly looking for sweeping solutions to the crisis. Across two episodes, we look at what can be done to reduce the demand for drugs (part 1) and the supply of fentanyl (part 2).

In the first episode, Keith Humphreys, drug policy advisor to George W Bush and Barack Obama, talks us through the state of epidemic. And The Economist’s Stevie Hertz heads to Oregon to see how its first-in-the-nation policies are working in practice. Run time: 45 min.

American authorities confiscated a record amount of illegal fentanyl along the southwest border in 2022. But even so, last year will still likely see the highest number of fatal overdoses in America’s 20-year opioid epidemic. In this episode, we trace the supply chain from China to the southern border, via Mexico. Can that supply route be interrupted? And how do America’s relationships with China and Mexico affect the flow of drugs?

San Diego’s mayor, Todd Gloria, describes the effect fentanyl has had on his city. Alan Bersin, former commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, discusses the state of the southern border. Arturo Sarukhan, former Mexican ambassador to America, talks us through Mexico’s role in stopping trafficking. And Representative David Trone explains how the United States’ relationship with China has changed the supply chain. Run time: 44 min.

You can now find every episode of Checks and Balance in one place and sign up to our weekly newsletter. For full access to print, digital and audio editions, as well as exclusive live events, subscribe to The Economist at economist.com/uspod.