I Cover the Opioid Epidemic Full Time. Ask Me Anything.

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Sixty-four thousand. That’s the number of Americans who died of overdoses in 2016—and it’s a hard one to wrap your mind around. It’s more than the annual deaths from AIDS, car accidents, or gun violence have ever been. It’s more than all the US military deaths during the Vietnam War. 

I’ve covered the opioid epidemic since 2016, trying to make sense not only of the tens of thousands of lives lost each year, but of the millions more affected by the crisis. The articles have taken the form of timelines and explainers on how overzealous opioid prescribing transformed into a scourge of heroin and fentanyl, deep dives on successful efforts to treat addiction and reduce opioid prescriptions, stories on what Trump’s proposed policies and nominees mean for the epidemic, and profiles of the many who are touched by addiction: children flooding into foster homes, cops feeling like they’re playing “whack-a-mole,” pregnant moms with few options, parents who have lost children to overdose. 

But this is a complex issue, and there are more questions to answer and stories to tell. I’d love to hear your questions about the epidemic and stories of any personal connections you might have to it. Feel free to remain anonymous or use your first name only. And if you’d prefer to email me directly, shoot me a note at jlurie@motherjones.com.










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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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