In the months since the pandemic took hold in the U.S., the opioid epidemic has taken a sharp turn for the worse. More than 40 states have seen evidence of increases in overdoses.
BARRE, Vermont — On the first Friday in June, Jefrey Cameron, 29, left his home around midnight to buy heroin. He had been struggling with addiction for seven years but had seemingly turned a corner, holding down a job that he loved at Basil’s Pizzeria, driving his teenage sister to the mall to go shopping and sharing a home with his grandmother. But then the coronavirus pandemic hit.