The human costs of the opiod epidemic

A recent NPR story talked about the costs of the epidemic:  "There are many different types of costs associated with the opioid epidemic: including emergency response, health care, criminal justice, rehabilitation and lost productivity. It's no wonder the total estimated burden from the epidemic is enormous. Health care research firm Altarum put the figure at $1 trillion since 2001. The White House Council of Economic Advisers estimates that, including lost productivity because of opioid deaths, the total economic cost from the opioid crisis reached $504 billion in 2015 alone."  (see here for the link)

Family members struggle to find money to pay all of these costs for their addicted loved ones.  Here is a good example:  "When I met Destini Johnson's parents last summer, they talked about missing days of work to drive their daughter to rehab or treatment, delaying retirement to pay for the additional costs, and caring for Destini's two young children. By that point, their daughter's addiction had already spun off a string of dramas, including prostitution, homelessness and an arrest on drug charges. Katiena Johnson expressed deep frustration that rehab programs were too few and too short-term, and — after several failed attempts — had become far too expensive for the Johnsons to afford at about $50,000 a month.  Now, if Destini lives, she will require intensive, expensive long-term nursing. Her mother hopes state insurance will foot the bill for the weeks-long ICU stay. Still, the bills could outlive Destini.  "I got a call from ... a collection agency, and I hate getting stuff like that while she's in this condition," Katiena Johnson says. "The second day she was in here, I got a court paper rolled up on my door for damage at some kind of apartment complex." In all the discussion about the cost of opioid addiction, Johnson says, there are few words about the toll it takes on families."