“Although the data is preliminary, the Times’s best estimate is that deaths rose 19 percent over the 52,404 recorded in 2015. And all evidence suggests the problem has continued to worsen in 2017.” The opioid crisis might feel like old news, but its associated deaths are escalating and “drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50.” From the NYT: Drug Deaths in America Are Rising Faster Than Ever.

+ Vox: The opioid crisis changed how doctors think about pain. (If we’re talking about the opioid crisis, we better also be talking about psychic pain.)

+ Buzzfeed: “Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, arrived on the US illegal drug market at just the right time, in 2012, to set off a wave of fatal overdoses like a match dropped into a gasoline tank.”

+ “The two most exciting developments in psychopharmacology in the 21st century so far have been ketamine for depression and MDMA for PTSD.” An interesting post: Is Pharma Research Worse than Chance?