When the pandemic hit last March, the U.S. was still facing another major public health crisis —the opioid epidemic. Between COVID-19 lockdowns and economic devastation, overdose deaths soared. Experts estimate that around 90,000 people died of a drug overdose in 2020. That’s the highest number of overdose deaths ever, and it represents the largest one-year increase.

On the latest episode of The Dose, we explore why drug deaths are rising and how policymakers can help fix the problem with guests Brendan Saloner, professor of health policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and Jesse Baumgartner, a research associate at the Commonwealth Fund.