The harsh reality is that more than 109,000 people died from a drug overdose in 2022, placing the national total since 2000 at more than 1.1 million overdose deaths. Not surprising, then, that a study from RAND found that more than 42% of the participants reported personally knowing at least one person who’s died from an overdose. A number of these overdoses were due to opioid addiction. That’s why doctors are seeking safer post-surgical alternatives to the addictive opioids that are linked to thousands of deaths in the U.S. annually. Patients often get hooked on the drugs after getting a pres…