Opioid use disorders (OUD) represent a global epidemic [1]. Every day, 128 people in the United States die after overdosing on opiates. The pathway to opiate addiction has changed over the last few decades. In the 1960s, more than 80% of people who began using opioids initiated with heroin [2]; by 2013, nearly 80% of opioid users reported that their first regular opioid was a prescription pain reliever [3]. The misuse of and addiction to opiates—including prescription pain relievers, heroin, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl—is thus a serious emergency that affects public health as well as social and economic welfare. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic made it increasingly difficult for individuals with OUD to access treatment and impacted mental health, triggering both initial and continued use of opioids [4], which is likely to further increase rates of OUD [5].
