A prescription for death

Coroners sound the alarm on rising deaths from painkillers, but is anyone listening?

You've probably heard of or taken an opioid before. They’re strong pain medicines in cold and flu tablets, prescribed after surgery, for cancer, or illegally sold like heroin.

When opioids are used too often, at high doses or incorrectly they can cause significant harm, including dependence, addiction and death.

In North America, over 600,000 people have…