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<p>Today, 11/20/17, the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) released a report on the economic costs of the opioid crisis. Executive summary:</p>
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<p>The opioid drug problem has reached crisis levels in the United States—in 2015, over 33,000 Americans died of a drug overdose involving opioids. CEA finds that previous estimates of the economic cost of the opioid crisis greatly understate it by undervaluing
the most important component of the loss—fatalities resulting from overdoses. This paper estimates the economic cost of these deaths using conventional economic estimates for valuing life routinely used by U.S. Federal agencies. It also adjusts for underreporting
of opioids in overdose deaths, includes heroin-related fatalities, and incorporates nonfatal costs of opioid misuse. CEA estimates that
<font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">in 2015, the economic cost of the opioid crisis was $504.0 billion, or 2.8 percent of GDP that year.
</font>This is over six times larger than the most recently estimated economic cost of the epidemic.</p>
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<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/11/20/cea-report-underestimated-cost-opioid-crisis">https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/11/20/cea-report-underestimated-cost-opioid-crisis</a></p>
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<p>full report:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/images/The%20Underestimated%20Cost%20of%20the%20Opioid%20Crisis.pdf">https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/images/The%20Underestimated%20Cost%20of%20the%20Opioid%20Crisis.pdf</a></p>
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<p><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/11/20/crisis-next-door-president-donald-j-trump-confronting-opioid-crisis-more">https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/11/20/crisis-next-door-president-donald-j-trump-confronting-opioid-crisis-more</a></p>
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<div style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><font size="+0"><span lang="en-US">
<div><font size="2">Ed Gottlieb<br>
Chair, Coalition for Safe Medication Disposal<br>
Board Member, New York Product Stewardship Council<br>
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<div><font size="2">Industrial Pretreatment Coordinator</font></div>
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<div><font size="2">Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility</font><br>
<font size="2">525 3</font><sup>rd</sup><font size="2"> Street</font></div>
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<div><font size="2">Ithaca, NY 14850</font></div>
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<div><font size="2">(607) 273-8381</font></div>
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<div><font size="2">fax: (607) 273-8433</font></div>
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