The past two years have seen the world’s focus on contagious diseases such as COVID-19 or monkeypox, but another public health crisis persists and kills tens of thousands of Americans a year. Aug. 31 is International Overdose Awareness Day, and part of its purpose is to draw attention to what the CDC calls a leading cause of injury-related death.

Dr. Julie Teater, a psychiatrist and addiction medicine physician at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, joined Spectrum News 1 to discuss.