Society & Culture
The fentanyl epidemic in North America and the global reach of synthetic opioids
Over the past two decades, the United States has battled an unprecedented opioid crisis, with synthetic opioids like fentanyl driving overdose deaths to devastating levels. In 2021 alone, more than 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses. After years of grim statistics, overdose rates started declining in 2024. Is the U.S. finally turning a corner on the opioid crisis? How have U.S. domestic and external drug policies evolved? How are synthetic opioids spreading beyond North America and reshaping drug markets and policies worldwide?
On December 4, the Brookings Foreign Policy program held an event to launch the results of a year-long project on synthetic opioids in the United States and abroad. Highlighting the project’s findings and featuring top experts, the event opened with a fireside chat between former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Senior Fellow Vanda Felbab-Brown. Subsequent panels explored U.S. drugs markets, domestic law enforcement, treatment, harm reduction, and decriminalization policies as well as the international dimensions of synthetic opioids and their spread beyond North America.
Viewers asked questions of the panelists by emailing [email protected] or on X/Twitter using #FentanylEpidemicForum.
Related Content
Agenda
-
December 4
-
Opening remarks
9:00 am - 9:05 am
-
Keynote fireside chat
9:05 am
Moderator
Vanda Felbab-Brown Director - Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors, Co-Director - Africa Security Initiative, Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology @VFelbabBrownKeynote speaker
-
Fentanyl, the U.S. drug market, and domestic law enforcement
9:50 am - 10:35 am
Moderator
Speakers
Peter Reuter Professor, School of Public Policy and Department of Criminology - University of Maryland
Philomena Kebec Economic Development Coordinator - Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Bloomberg Fellow - Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
Beau Kilmer Codirector - RAND Drug Policy Research Center, Senior Policy Researcher, Professor of Policy Analysis - Pardee RAND Graduate School @BeauKilmer -
Coffee Break
10:35 am - 10:50 am
-
Fentanyl in the United States: Treatment, harm reduction, and decriminalization
10:50 am - 11:35 am
Moderator
Speakers
Harold Pollack Helen Ross Distinguished Service Professor - Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice - The University of Chicago @haroldpollack
Regina LaBelle Director - Addiction and Public Policy Initiative, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law Center @ReginaLabelle
Keith Humphreys Esther Ting Memorial Professor and Professor of Psychiatry - Stanford University @KeithNHumphreys -
International dimensions of synthetic opioids and policy responses
11:45 am - 12:30 pm
Moderator
Speakers
Vanda Felbab-Brown Director - Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors, Co-Director - Africa Security Initiative, Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology @VFelbabBrown
Daniel Mejía Profesor Titular - Universidad de los Andes
Jonathan P. Caulkins H. Guyford Stever University Professor Of Operations Research And Public Policy - Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University
-
