Skip to main content
Georgia Public Broadcasting Logo
  • TV

    Featured Specials and Programs

    • All Creatures Great and Small
    • Miss Scarlet & The Duke
    • Antiques Roadshow
    • PBS Newshour
    • Finding Your Roots
    • The U.S. and the Holocaust
    All Programs

    GPB Originals

    • Georgia Outdoors
    • View Finders
    • A Fork in the Road
    • The Steeple
    • Lawmakers
    • Football Fridays in Georgia
    GPB Originals

    Browse by Genre

    • Arts & Music
    • Culture
    • Drama
    • Food
    • History
    • News & Public Affairs
    • TV Schedule
    • GPB Programs
    • PBS Passport
    • TV Highlights this Week
    • PBS KIDS
    • Find Your Station
    • Newsletters
    • Contact GPB
  • Radio

    Featured Programs

    • Political Rewind
    • The Daily
    • Morning Edition
    • All Things Considered
    • Serendipity
    • John Lemley's City Cafe
    • Fresh Air
    • Here and Now
    • Code Switch/Life Kit
    • Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
    All Programs

    Podcasts

    • GA Today
    • Salvation South
    • Battleground: Ballot Box
    • Football Fridays in Georgia
    • Classroom Conversations
    • Radio Schedule
    • GPB Classical
    • Radio Programs
    • Podcasts
    • GPB News
    • Find Your Station
    • Contact GPB
    • Newsletters
  • News

    Featured Programs & Series

    • Political Rewind
    • Lawmakers
    • Lawmakers: Beyond the Dome
    • 1A
    • Battleground: Ballot Box
    • GA Today Podcast
    • Southern Reading List
    • Powering Georgia
    • Food Access

    More GPB News

    • Politics
    • Georgia News
    • Justice
    • Arts & Life
    • Health
    All GPB News
    • Radio Schedule
    • Radio Stations
    • GPB Apps
    • Contact GPB News
    • Follow Us on Apple News
    • Newsletters
  • Education

    Browse by Subject

    • CTAE
    • English Language Arts
    • Mathematics
    • Physical Health and Wellness
    • Professional Learning
    • STEAM
    • Science
    • Social Studies
    • The Arts
    • World Languages

    Browse by Grade

    • Preschool-PreK
    • K-2
    • 3-5
    • 6-8
    • 9-12

    Featured

    • Classroom Conversations Podcast
    • Georgia Studies Collection
    • Econ Express
    • VR in the Classroom
    • Lights, Camera, Budget!
    • Georgia Home Classroom
    • Chemistry Matters
    • Physics in Motion
    • Virtual Field Trips
    • Writers Contest
    • PBS LearningMedia
    • PBS KIDS
  • Sports
  • Events

    Browse by Type

    • Community
    • Donor
    • Kids & Family
    • Screenings
    All Events

    Browse by Category

    • Education
    • News
    • Sports
    • Television

    Sign up to receive GPB Event announcements via Email.

    Sign up

    • on Twitter
    • on Facebook
    • on Instagram
  • Kids & Family

    For Kids

    • Video
    • Games

    For Parents & Caregivers

    • Kids & Family Blog
    • Kids & Family Events
  • Support Us

    Support GPB

    • Ways to Give
    • Planned Giving
    • Sustainers
    • GPB Passport
    • Leadership Giving
    • Corporate Sponsorship
    • Vehicle Donations
    • GPB Next
    • Matching Gifts
  • Search
GPB Passport icon GPB Passport icon Passport
GPB donate icon GPB donate icon Donate
Listen Live Listen Live Watch Live Watch Live
GPB News

GPB Newsletter CTA

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

News Topics

  • Georgia
  • National
  • Election
  • Lawmakers
  • Battleground: Ballot Box

Don't Miss

Don't Miss:

  • Watch: GPB's Lawmakers
  • TV Highlights This Week
  • GA Today daily podcast

News Articles: addiction

A sign calling attention to drug overdoses is posted in a gas station on the White Earth reservation in Ogema, Minn.. A new study shows that early deaths due to addiction and suicide have impacted American Indian and Alaska Native communities far more than white communities.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Native Americans left out of 'deaths of despair' research

During the time that deaths from addiction and suicide among white Americans rose by about 9%, deaths among Native Americans shot up by about 30%, a new study shows.

February 01, 2023
|
By:
  • Rhitu Chatterjee
Amanda Williamson stands in front of a brick wall outside the Freight Depot

Tagged as: 

  • Mental Health

Addiction recovery advocates want lawmakers to budget more for peer support specialists

Representatives from 40 organizations that make up the Substance Use Disorder Policy Partnership met with lawmakers at the Capitol to advocate for more resources for substance abuse prevention, treatment, and recovery.

January 31, 2023
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
Oxycodone pills

Tagged as: 

  • Health

CDC weighs new opioid prescribing guidelines amid controversy over old ones

Many blame the agency's earlier guidance for suffering and even suicide risk among chronic pain patients. Critics say the updated advice may not fix the problem.

April 09, 2022
|
By:
  • Will Stone
A heroin user in a South Bronx neighborhood which is experiencing an epidemic in drug use, especially heroin and other opioid based drugs.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Black Americans are now dying from drug overdoses at a higher rate than whites

New research shows drug overdose deaths continue to surge among Black Americans. For the first time since 1999, Black Americans are dying at a higher rate per capita than white Americans.

March 02, 2022
|
By:
  • Brian Mann
A kit with naloxone is displayed at the South Jersey AIDS Alliance in Atlantic City, N.J. on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014. An overdose of opiates essentially makes the body forget to breathe. Naloxone works by blocking the brain receptors that opiates latch onto and helping the body "remember" to take in air.

Tagged as: 

  • Politics

Political Rewind: William Cope Moyers on his recovery from an illness that takes no prisoners

Thursday on Political Rewind: William Cope Moyers has sought to help others struggling with addiction by telling the story of his road to recovery. Public health officials are also struggling to address a new surge in overdose deaths in the United States.

November 18, 2021
|
By:
  • Bill Nigut ,
  • Sarah Kallis ,
  • and 1 more
Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra said the overdose epidemic has grown so severe that new measures are needed to keep people with addiction alive. He is seen here on Capitol Hill in September.

Tagged as: 

  • National

The Biden team is scrambling to slow a crushing wave of drug overdose deaths

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra is rolling out a new plan to slow drug deaths, which he says will include controversial measures such as clean needles and fentanyl test strips.

October 27, 2021
|
By:
  • Brian Mann
Evidence seized from a drug trafficking operation in central California in early 2020 included methamphetamine and fentanyl with a street value of $1.5 million, authorities said.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Methamphetamine Deaths Soar, Hitting Black And Native Americans Especially Hard

Newly published U.S. data finds overdose deaths from methamphetamine use more than doubled in recent years. Use of the stimulant among Black Americans surged nearly tenfold.

September 23, 2021
|
By:
  • Brian Mann

Tagged as: 

  • Health

In 'Dopamine Nation,' Overabundance Keeps Us Craving More

Psychiatrist Anna Lembke's new book explores the brain's connection between pleasure and pain. It also helps explain addictions — not just to drugs and alcohol, but also to food, sex and smartphones.

August 25, 2021
|
By:
  • Terry Gross
Jameson Rybak, son of Jim and Suzanne Rybak of Florence, S.C., struggled with opioid addiction and died of an overdose on June 9, 2020 — three months after he left a hospital ER because he feared he couldn't afford treatment.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

A Tragic Death Shows How ERs Fail Patients Who Struggle With Addiction

ER doctors wanted to hospitalize the young man to help ease his withdrawal from opioid dependence. But he declined because he couldn't afford it. His mom says no one told him he had financial options.

July 14, 2021
|
By:
  • Aneri Pattani
crop of billboard

Tagged as: 

  • Health

'Recovery Is Real' Billboard Campaign Continues In Georgia Thanks To SAMSA Grant

The Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Association is awarding nearly $600,000 in grant money to the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse. Part of the money will be used for the “Georgia Recovers” billboard campaign. GPB’s Ellen Eldridge reports on the council’s work to reduce stigma associated with substance use disorder. 

July 06, 2021
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
Will wipes away sweat on a hot day while walking down Willow Street in Lynn, Mass., as he looks to distribute safety supplies to drug users on the street.

Tagged as: 

  • National

He Lost Nearly Everything To Addiction. Then An Arrest Changed His Life

For years, people who used drugs were treated like criminals, often given long sentences. Now there's growing acceptance that addiction is a treatable disease, but shame and discrimination linger.

June 19, 2021
|
By:
  • Martha Bebinger
Mike Marshall is the co-founder and director of Oregon Recovers. He says he's concerned the state is failing to expand addiction treatment capacity in a strategic way. "So we put the cart before the horse," he says. <strong> </strong><strong></strong>

Tagged as: 

  • National

Oregon's Pioneering Drug Decriminalization Experiment Is Now Facing The Hard Test

Oregon's bold move to decriminalize small amounts of all hard drugs and expand treatment is now meeting the reality of implementation as the treatment community is divided over the way forward.

June 18, 2021
|
By:
  • Eric Westervelt
Artist William Stoehr says he wants his portraits to show that addiction affects everyone, and to prompt the sort of conversations that people began having about HIV/AIDS decades ago.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

An Artist And A Scientist Take On The Stigma Of Addiction

The nation's top addiction scientist has teamed up with a prominent artist to let people know that substance use disorder is a disease, not a moral failure.

May 01, 2021
|
By:
  • Jon Hamilton
Federal agencies report a troubling rise in overdoses from a variety of drugs that have been laced with the potent synthetic opioid fentanyl.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Overdose Deaths Surged In Pandemic, As More Drugs Were Laced With Fentanyl

Researchers say cocaine, meth and other street drugs are increasingly contaminated with deadly synthetic opioids, contributing to a major spike in deaths.

April 22, 2021
|
By:
  • Brian Mann
A person holds up a portrait of George Floyd as people gather outside the Hennepin County Government Center on April 9 in Minneapolis

Tagged as: 

  • National

Critics Say Chauvin Defense 'Weaponized' Stigma For Black Americans With Addiction

Derek Chauvin's defense has suggested George Floyd's drug use might have made him more "volatile" and unpredictable, justifying the use of force. Critics say Floyd needed health care and compassion.

April 18, 2021
|
By:
  • Brian Mann
  • Load More

Newsletter Signup

Sign Up For Our Newsletters

Connect with GPB

  • Connect with GPB on Facebook
  • Connect with GPB on Instagram
  • Connect with GPB on Twitter
  • Connect with GPB on YouTube
  • Connect with GPB on Apple News

Footer

Footer First Nav (Main Menu)

  • TV
  • Radio
  • News
  • Education
  • Sports
  • Events
  • Kids & Family
  • Support Us
  • Search

Footer Second Nav Menu

  • Help Center
  • About GPB
  • Contact Us
  • Closed Captioning
  • Directions
  • Studio Production
  • Program Submissions

Footer Third Nav Menu

  • Support Us
  • Careers
  • Accessibility
  • FCC Public Files
  • Drawing Rules
  • News Media Request
  • Open Records Policy
  • Privacy Policy

Georgia Public Broadcasting

260 14th St. NW
Atlanta, GA 30318
United States

(404) 685-2400 In Atlanta
(800) 222-4788 Outside Atlanta
ask@gpb.org

Newsletter Signup

Sign Up For Our Newsletters

Connect with GPB

  • Connect with GPB on Facebook
  • Connect with GPB on Instagram
  • Connect with GPB on Twitter
  • Connect with GPB on YouTube
  • Connect with GPB on Apple News
© Copyright 2023, Georgia Public Broadcasting. All Rights Reserved. Georgia Public Radio® GPTV®