Stephanie Almada wanted relief from premenstrual syndrome. Her doctor sent her home with a powerful prescription pain reliever. For Almada, as for many other women in Connecticut and nationwide, that prescription was an avoidable step on what became a challenging journey through opioid addiction.

Women use opioids at higher rates than men and more quickly become seriously ill from abusing them. Deaths from opioid overdose in Connecticut rose 125 percent in a single year, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis.