NEW YORK (AP) - The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there's a personal reason for his focus on the opioid epidemic: His son almost died from taking fentanyl-laced cocaine.
Dr. Robert Redfield Jr. called the opioid crisis "personal" in a speech to the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
Redfield talked about his son briefly while outlining is priorities for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he started as director in March.
He gave the speech Thursday in New Orleans.
The CDC says about 70,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year. That's a 10 percent increase from the year before.