Stanford-Lancet report calls for sweeping reforms to mitigate opioid crisis
By Tracie White
Even in the era of COVID-19, the opioid crisis stands out as one of this century’s most devastating public health disasters, according to a Stanford-Lancet report published Feb. 2. The report, two years in the making, calls for immediate action to quell the rising tide of addiction and overdose deaths in the United States and Canada, especially now that the pandemic has pushed the crisis to new heights. “Unrestrained profit-seeking and regulatory failure instigated the opioid crisis 25 years ago, and since then, little has been done to stop it,” said Wu Tsai Neuro affiliate Keith Humphreys, PhD, the Esther Ting Memorial Professor and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford Medicine. Humphreys chairs the 17-member commission that produced the Stanford-funded report in coordination with The Lancet. The commission brings together a variety of Stanford scholars with other leading health experts from the U.S. and Canada. “This problem is now everywhere across our two nations,” said Humphreys, who has 30 years of experience in public policy as an addiction researcher. “It crosses borders and economic levels. Find me a family that it hasn’t touched in some way.”"