Sam Quinones is the author of "Dreamland" — an award-winning book about the rise of the opioid crisis, which shows no signs of slowing. There were more than 64,000 deaths last year from drug overdoses, including opioids.

Sam last month sat down with POLITICO's Dan Diamond to discuss how the opioid crisis got started, how he discovered the story and what he thinks health leaders and politicians should do next.

Note: The audio quality on Sam's end is a little rough, but we wanted to bring you this conversation given the. And since Sam sat down for an interview, there have been a few developments — chiefly, the Trump administration this week proposed adding $13 billion in new funding to the opioid fight.

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