America Addicted

The opioid crisis has plagued poet William Brewer's hometown in West Virginia. His vivid poems tell the story of the opioid epidemic from different voices and depict the sense of bewilderment people find themselves in as addiction creeps into their lives. As part of our series America Addicted, Jeffrey Brown gets a poet's take on the nation's opioid crisis.

They visit overdose victims in the hospital. They hand out lifesaving drugs on the streets and educate their peers about their own relapses. In Rhode Island, former drug addicts are the most valuable fighters on the front lines of the war against opioids. William Brangham reports as part of our series, America Addicted.

At the epicenter of America's opioid epidemic, Huntington, West Virginia's growing addiction problem has overwhelmed everyone from first responders to business owners to newborns. So far, the city's robust efforts to fight back haven't been enough to curb the overdoses. Hari Sreenivasan reports as part of our series, "America Addicted."