https://medium.com/futuretech-upenn/medical-technologies-to-solve-the-opioid-crisis-fc9c41a933a2 > Camille Cassard is a senior and a University Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in Political Science and French. Her research focuses on the impact of emerging technologies on health and immigration policies. > In 2016, approximately 11.5 million Americans misused prescription opioids, including 1.8 million people who had a substance use disorder related to a prescription pain reliever. We are currently living through a devastating opioid crisis in the US with the number of overdose related deaths failing to subside. While not all opioid addictions result from prescriptions, a large number of people become addicted to opioids after being prescribed them by a doctor.