Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, recently participated in a USDA-hosted roundtable on rural opioid misuse. "Drug overdose rates just as with alcohol and suicide are higher in places that exhibit more economic and social distress," Monnat said during the forum. "Importantly though these are also places that have higher rates of obesity, they have higher rates of low self-rated health, higher rates of smoking. There is nothing particularly unique about opioids except they are contributing to younger and faster deaths." 03/21/18