CDC Foundation's Fight Against Overdose Deaths | We're Out of Time
August 11, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readIn 2021 and 2023, over 100,000 people died from overdoses in the United States each year. As former prosecutor Terry Perez puts it, “the criminal justice system alone can't do it all… you can arrest one dealer, another one pops up, but you really have to make sure you're dealing with the demand because the supply is always gonna be there. It's just too lucrative.” This episode of We're Out of Time brings together Dr. Judy Monroe, president and CEO of the CDC Foundation, and Terry Perez, a public health analyst and former deputy district attorney, to explain what a genuine public health approach to the overdose crisis looks like—and why it requires partnerships that cross the usual boundaries between law enforcement, healthcare, and community organizations.
The CDC Foundation: A Tugboat, Not a Cruise Line
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What you'll learn
- 1 CDC Foundation's Fight Against Overdose Deaths | We're Out of Time
- 2 (00:00) **Crisis Statistics & Opening** - Over 100,000 annual overdose deaths framed as a public health crisis
- 3 (02:03) **Episode Introduction** - Public health's role in addiction, overdose, and mental health systems
- 4 (03:47) **CDC vs. CDC Foundation Explained** - Key distinction between federal agency and independent nonprofit
- 5 (06:13) **Public Health in Everyday Life** - Clean water as a simple example of invisible public health work
- 6 (07:57) **Lessons from Appalachia** - Dr. Monroe's family medicine experience in rural Tennessee
- 7 (12:36) **From Prosecutor to Public Health** - Terry Perez's transition from narcotics chief to overdose prevention
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Overdose deaths have touched nearly every community in America — and this episode, released for Overdose Awareness Month, brings on two women working from inside the system to change that.
Host Richard Taite sits down with Dr. Judy Monroe, President & CEO of the CDC Foundation, and Terri Perez, JD, a public health analyst and former deputy district attorney of 31 years, for a conversation about why overdose prevention has to be treated as a public health issue, not just a criminal justice one.
Dr. Monroe explains what the CDC Foundation actually is and how it differs from the CDC itself, shares stories from her early career as a rural physician in Appalachia, and walks through a real public health investigation that stopped a multi-state outbreak before it made headlines. Terri Perez brings a rare dual perspective — decades prosecuting narcotics cases in San Diego, and her own family's experience with addiction and recovery. Together they talk about stigma, the partnership between law enforcement and public health, harm reduction on the ground, the new drug trends they're watching most closely, and what ordinary people can do in their own communities.
This episode is part of the CDC Foundation's Community Overdose Prevention Efforts (COPE) campaign. Richard is matching every donation dollar for dollar, up to $25,000, to help expand education, strengthen communities, and give more people a chance to get help before a crisis becomes a tragedy.
To learn more or donate, visit: cdcfoundation.org/COPE
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