and welcome back to our cnn town hall about this country s fentanyl crisis. we could not end this evening without talking to the people on the front lines of this battle against fentanyl. i m joined now by dr. ayanna jordan, associate professor of psychiatry at nyu, and lou or ten zero, a former doctor who is in recovery after becoming addicted himself after prescribing painkillers to patients. he helps others now with their recoveries, as the executive director of the clarksburg mission in west virginia. thank you both so much for being with us. you actually brought narcan with you. i did, i did. so, show, i think it s important for people to see it. i haven t actually seen it up closely. thank you for that opportunity. before i get started, i really just want to express my sincere empathy for the people that are here today. it s not easy, it s more to say, i am beyond sorry for your loss. but i am committed to doing things is a friendly, okay. my role as a phy
addicted himself while prescribing painkillers to patients. he helps others now with their recoveries, as the executive director of the clarksburg mission in west virginia. thank you both so much for being with us. you actually brought narcan with you. i did, i did. so, show, i think it s important for people to see it. i haven t actually seen it up closely. thank you for that opportunity. before i get started, i really just want to express my sincere empathy for the people that are here today. it s not easy, it s more to say, i am beyond sorry for your loss. but i am committed to doing things differently, okay. my role as a physician is to save lives, all right. i don t want to blow people up. i want to stop this from ever happening again, right. all right. so, thank you for that. [applause] and just as a physician, this is emotional for you. because you see this up close. i see this up close all the time. and i feel like we are not concentrating on the science
addicted himself while prescribing painkillers to patients. he helps others now with their recoveries, as the executive director of the clarksburg mission in west virginia. thank you both so much for being with us. you actually brought narcan with you. i did, i did. so, show, i think it s important for people to see it. i haven t actually seen it up closely. thank you for that opportunity. before i get started, i really just want to express my sincere empathy for the people that are here today. it s not easy, it s more to say, i am beyond sorry for your loss. but i am committed to doing things differently, okay. my role as a physician is to save lives, all right. i don t want to blow people up. i want to stop this from ever happening again, right. all right. so, thank you for that. [applause] and just as a physician, this is
deaths, 33,000 plus. the average number of overdose deaths on any given day, 78. the percentage of chronic pain patients who tend to overuse opioids, 20-21%. you just mentioned the nexus here between doctors who are prescribing painkillers and fentanyl and things that have opioids in them, perhaps overprescribing them. can and you mentioned the pharmaceutical companies which are making them available to the doctors. right. james: is one sector more culpable in your view? well, i think the pharmaceutical companies are more culpable because they have huge amounts of lobbyists. they get doctors to give lectures and to prescribe the drugs. so they re also culpable. but we re in 1914 the harrison act made heroin and cocaine, opium illegal. there s never been this much of