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At the center of the nation’s opioid crisis is a simple fact: Large numbers of Americans experience serious pain, and the vast majority of those who have used strong painkillers for a long period say they work. That’s one key takeaway from a new Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation national poll of long-term opioid users, people who have taken the drugs for at least two months during the past two years. (Guskin, 12/20)

As the nation grapples with a devastating opioid epidemic, concerns have primarily focused on young people buying drugs on the street. But America’s elderly also have a problem. Over the past several decades, physicians have increasingly prescribed seniors pain medications to address chronic pain from arthritis, cancer, neurological diseases and other illnesses that become more common in later life. (Gold, 12/21)

Drug makers will be required to establish drop-off centers to accept unwanted or expired medications, under an ordinance passed Tuesday by the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors. The bill requires drug makers to pay the full cost of establishing and operating a network of centers to take unwanted or unused pharmaceuticals. (Cuff, 12/20)