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Overviews of the Key Findings Student's Name Institution Course Professor Date Overviews of the Key Findings The opioid epidemic has become a significant public health concern, worsening illness, death, and financial burdens over the last 25 years, especially in the United States and the United Kingdom. The data indicates that the rates of death caused by Opioid overdose experienced a fivefold increase between 1999 and 2019 (Ahmad et al., 2024). The mortality rates due to synthetic opioid overdoses experienced a more than 16-fold increase between 2013 and 2019. As of 2016, there were around 27 million individuals worldwide who experienced opioid use disorders, as shown below. Figure 1 Age-adjusted rates of drug overdose deaths involving opioids, by type of opioid: United States, 1999–2019 Source: Hedegaard et al. (2020) This crisis, ignited in the 1990s by misleading pharmaceutical assurances regarding the non-addictive nature of opioid pain relievers, has morphed with the rise of potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl, which are now the primary drivers of escalating overdose fatalities. This analysis shows that social isolation and exclusion significantly heighten vulne...