Opioid epidemic costs DC, West Virginia the most: Analysis

Published March 20, 2018 3:39pm ET



Washington, D.C., and West Virginia have felt the biggest economic burden of the opioid epidemic, according to an analysis from the right-leaning think tank American Enterprise Institute.

Federal data estimates that in 2015, the economic burden from the epidemic was $504 billion in 2015. The think tank looked into where those costs were incurred, and found that West Virginia had the highest per person total cost of the epidemic at $4,378. The District of Columbia came in second at $3,657.

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