By Douglas C. Throckmorton, MD
The FDA is working to help curtail our nation’s drug abuse problem and its ongoing opioid epidemic in a variety of ways. One part of this work is to keep an eye on what’s coming, to prepare for the next stages of this epidemic. To do this we are following, through social science research, changes in how drugs are used and abused, with a goal of identifying dangers early so we can intervene. For example, in 2016 our social science and epidemiological