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.
The companies, including Johnson & Johnson and McKesson, will admit no wrongdoing. Billions of dollars in payouts will fund drug treatment and harm reduction programs.
Johnson & Johnson, AmerisourceBergen, McKesson and Cardinal Health will pay $590 million to Native American tribes under a proposed settlement for the companies' role in the opioid crisis.
A separate trial will follow to determine what Teva will have to pay in the case, in which New York state and two Long Island counties took on a swath of drug companies.
New research released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found roughly 932,000 fatal overdoses from 1999-2020. Preliminary data shows another 100,000 deaths this year.
Opioids can kill because they reduce breathing along with pain. Now brain scientists have made a discovery that could lead to potent pain drugs that don't affect breathing.
Mayor Bill DeBlasio says these "overdose prevention centers" will reduce drug overdoses in New York City. Similar efforts in other U.S. cities face legal challenges.
