United States | Through the eye of the needle

Is the opioid epidemic finally burning out?

Overdose deaths are falling steadily

A pill of fentanyl melting like a candle.
Illustration: Alberto Miranda
|MIDDLETOWN AND HAMILTON, OHIO

Standing in the bitter cold outside the DeCoach Recovery Centre, a drug treatment clinic on the edge of an ocean of car parking in Hamilton, Ohio, Scott Weaver explains where his life went off track. First, he says, about ten years ago he was in a car wreck. “I started taking pills”, he explains—they were prescribed. “But I wasn’t hooked on them at that time.”

Explore more

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Through the eye of the needle”

From the December 21st 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from United States

Firefighters watch flames burning a home in Palisades, Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles is burning

Always vulnerable, the city is increasingly susceptible to fire

The US Army needs inferior, cheaper drones to compete

It seems obvious. So what is stopping it from happening?


Trump has faced down Republican dissidents in Congress

After some drama he gets his man for speaker of the House. That was the easy part


Checks and Balance newsletter: Can the tech elite and MAGA come together? 

Russ Vought: Donald Trump’s holy warrior

The Christian nationalist and budget wonk who wants to crush the “deep state”

Jimmy Carter reshaped his home town

What the 39th president means to Plains, Georgia