As the fentanyl crisis grows, Georgia lawmakers have set their eyes on holding someone accountable, pushing forward a bill that will make it easier to charge drug dealers with murder if their supply causes an overdose.
Under Ballot Measure 110, instead of arresting drug users, police give them a citation and point them towards treatment. Over three years in, there's a debate about whether it's succeeded or failed.
Georgia officials have been taking steps over the last decade to ease access to the life-saving drug in response to the rise in opioid overdoses here and nationally. The state has, for example, made the drug available over the counter and empowered first responders to carry it.
The federal government made naloxone nasal spray available over the counter this year, and that availability is helping naloxone become a life-saving measure in shelters, jails and schools.
Some $1.5 billion flowed to local government coffers this year, sparking debates about transparency and how to spend the money. Here are 5 takeaways from a year's worth of reporting on the issue.
Some candidates for governor are sparring over bragging rights for their state's share of opioid settlement funds. Some are attorneys general who pursued the lawsuits that produced the payouts.
Some state and local governments have started tapping in to opioid settlement funds for law enforcement expenses. Many argue it should go toward treating addiction instead.
The share of overdose deaths involving counterfeit pills doubled between 2019 and 2021, according to the CDC. Victims were often younger, Hispanic and had misused prescription drugs in the past.
Victims of prescription opioid addiction as well as communities slammed by the opioid crisis could wind up with nothing if Mallinckrodt files for a second bankruptcy.
Advisers to the FDA put the opioid overdose-reversal drug a step closer to being sold without a needing a prescription. Even if approved, the medication may not reach many people who need it.
CVS would pay about $5 billion and Walgreens more than $5.5 billion, though neither company has admitted wrongdoing. States have until the end of the year to accept the terms of the settlement.
Harm reduction is one of four policies the Biden administration says must be immediately implemented in order to address the record high number of overdose deaths.
Between early February and mid-March, at least 66 emergency department visits in Georgia involved the use of cocaine, methamphetamine, crack, heroin, pain killers and cannabis products that were likely laced with fentanyl, which is 30 to 50 times stronger than heroin. Experts worry about increased risk of overdose when users believe that the pills are legitimate pharmaceutical products.
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.