Anna Marrie Jones, 54, succumbed to an American health crisis plaguing white women. The trend is worse for women in the Southwest, worse still in rural areas, and worst of all for those in the lower middle class.
Jessica Kilpatrick is a recovering addict in Warren County, Ala., where the death rate for 35- to 44-year-old women has increased by 170 percent since 1999.
In Chillicothe, rising opioid addiction cuts more white working-class lives short.
The days of waiting -- for a key injection that could help curb her heroin cravings -- seem to go on forever.
A Kentucky undertaker and a funeral-home owner ruminate on lost members of their community.
After losing their parents to overdoses, three children in West Virginia confront what it means to grow up in the midst of one of the country's biggest public health crises.
A deadly combination of opiates and benzodiazepines, often prescribed in tandem, play a major role in the historic increase in white female mortality in America.
White, middle-aged women are dying by suicide in unprecedented numbers.
And experts say alcohol companies target women with messages that promote heavy drinking.
And 6 in 10 day say doctors aren’t helping them figure out how to quit.
People in these various demographic groups have significantly diverging death rates. White women living in less-urban areas, in particular, have seen a stark increase in death rates — as much as 40 percent in some age groups.
Across the country, middle-aged white women are dying at staggeringly higher rates, particularly from drug overdoses, suicides and excessive drinking.
(Matt McClain / The Washington Post)
Enforcement cases dwindled to a “stunningly low” number after a change in policy by the agency.
How drugs intended for patients ended up in the hands of illegal users: ‘No one was doing their job’
Wholesale distributors sent pills to drugstores that fueled the opioid epidemic.
Critics say the revolving door undercuts the agency’s ability to curb the rising opioid epidemic.
A multibillion-dollar industry deals with addiction and side effects by developing new drugs.
The agriculture secretary sees his own story in the rural drug crisis.
