Drug overdoses now kill more than 100,000 Americans a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s more than vehicle crashes and gun deaths combined.
Between June 2020 and June 2021 in Hawaiʻi, over 200 residents died of a drug overdose, many of them opioid-related. In an effort to help curb this crisis, local advocates reached out to the Hawaiʻi congressional delegation earlier this month, in support of new legislation aimed at providing alternatives to opioid prescriptions.
Bryan Talisayan, executive director of Mental Health America of Hawaiʻi, was among those advocates. He sat down with The Conversation to provide a snapshot of opioid use in Hawaiʻi.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Feb. 15, 2022. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
