Thursday, July 26, 2018

Punjab’s Opioid Crisis

Image Source: Flickr
This post was peer reviewed.
Click to learn more.
Author: Hunter Singh Lau
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
AAEM/RSA International Committee

With the rapidly increasing number of opioid overdoses, increasing public recognition, and subsequent pressure for action, the opioid crisis has become a prominent issue.[1-5] However, I am not referring to the opioid epidemic in the United States (U.S.), rather, the lesser-known opioid crisis in the North Indian state of Punjab. Though these two opioid epidemics appear distinct from one another, they are deeply entangled, and Americans would benefit from examining how Punjab is reacting to their crisis and whether their recently enacted policies prove to be efficacious.