Trailblazing RI opioid research center wins millions to study addiction. What they hope to learn.
By Katie Mulvaney, Providence Journal
“PROVIDENCE – The opioid crisis is proving to be a moving target. It’s morphed through the years from people becoming ensnared by the prescription painkiller Oxycontin to users seeking heroin and fentanyl. New adulterants added to the mix, including xylazine, an animal tranquilizer that leaves human users knocked out for hours and with ugly raw lesions creeping across their skin.
More recently, stimulants, including cocaine and amphetamines, are being contaminated by fentanyl, catching users unaware and unprepared. It sometimes leads to overdose deaths.
For the past five years, the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence on Opioids and Overdose at Rhode Island Hospital has nimbly chronicled these trends and shape strategies to help people combat opioid-use disorder and keep Rhode Islanders alive.”
