US opioid crisis requires 'more than money' to fix: Cleveland Clinic CEO

Cleveland Clinic CEO Dr. Toby Cosgrove said we need more than money to fix America’s opioid crisis.

“You can’t just have medications out there, getting a handful of pills to get your wisdom teeth taken out because that goes into the medicine chest—teenagers are now going into the medicine chest and taking the drugs out and using the drugs or selling the drugs. This is a big, big issue that is getting worse,” he said during a FOX Business exclusive.

Instead he suggests educating America.

“I don’t think the majority of the people in the United States have any idea of the magnitude of the problem and so you have to raise the consciousness of the whole country,” he said. “You’re going to have to start talking to children in school about the problem…hear it from the pulpits of churches across the country.”

He also puts the onus on physicians to cut back on pain killer prescriptions.

“Eighty percent of heroin addicts start in the United States with some sort of prescription drug,” he said.