Opioid mortality, public health care expenditures, and cross-national homicide rates: findings from 25 OECD countries, 2000-2017.

This study suggests one consequence of the opioid epidemic may be increased homicide rates, and this association is stronger in countries with lower public health expenditures. These findings highlight the potential role of governments to combat the associated harms of rising opioid use through greater investments in public health care.