Europe didn't get the opioid crisis. It is a "uniquely American problem" that we created by over-prescribing highly addictive opioids and then kicking them off the prescriptions once it became clear that they were addictive. That drove many people onto illegal drugs like heroin.

As of 2019, we have 4% of the world's population, and 81% of its opioid consumption.

Do you have a source for this? Thanks.

I can try to find something canonical. I heard it from our County's Medical Program Director (the physician who oversees EMS).