Opioid abuse continues to be a major problem, both in Arizona and across the country.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says overdose deaths are still a leading cause of injury-related death in the United States, and that the majority of those involve opioids.

Researchers like John Streicher are trying to figure out ways to bring those numbers down. Streicher is a professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Arizona. He studies how opioids work, with the goal of developing non-addictive opioid drugs.

Streicher joined The Show to talk about the development of drugs that do what opioids do, but in a way that's less potentially harmful way to people.

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