Economy
The Race to Learn What's Really Happening in the Opioid Crisis
Cities and towns are on the front lines of an epidemic they don’t fully understand. Their experimental solutions—from real-time maps to sewer robots—highlight how urgent the crisis has become.
Shortly after Thanksgiving in 2016, Cary, North Carolina, realized it had an opioid problem. Five overdoses were reported that week. Three were fatal.
“That weekend hit home that Cary is not an island, that we have all the same social problems as everywhere else,” deputy town manager Mike Bajorek said. “Sometimes you just need that one pivot point to say, ‘Hey, we need to do something.’”