BY ELLEN MITCHELL Two senators are taking aim at fentanyl trafficking by trying to add a provision to the annual defense policy bill that would make it a national security threat. Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) look to propose the Disrupt Fentanyl Trafficking Act as an amendment to the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)[Read More…]
Tag: opioid
A rural county’s choice: Use opioid funds to pay off debt, or pay them forward to curb crisis
BY: ANERI PATTANI Over the past two years, rural Greene County in northeastern Tennessee has collected more than $2.7 million from regional and national settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors. But instead of helping people harmed by addiction, county officials are finding other ways to spend it. They have put $2.4 million toward[Read More…]
Fentanyl-related drugs permanently made criminal under bill passed by U.S. House
BY: ASHLEY MURRAY WASHINGTON — Lawmakers in the U.S. House passed bipartisan legislation Thursday in an effort to curb staggering overdose deaths from illegal fentanyl substances that are illicitly produced and up to 50 times stronger than heroin. The HALT Fentanyl Act, passed on a 289-133 vote with 74 Democratic votes and support from[Read More…]
New nasal spray to reverse fentanyl and other opioid overdoses gets FDA approval
This photo provided by Indivior in May 2023 shows their drug Opvee. On Monday, May 22, 2023, U.S. health regulators approved the medication to reverse overdoses caused by fentanyl and other powerful opioids, which are currently driving the nation’s drug crisis.(Indivior via AP) By The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S.[Read More…]
Attorney General Cameron Urges Congress to Protect Kentuckians from Illicit Xylazine
By Kentucky Attorney General Cameron FRANKFORT, Ky. – KY Attorney General Daniel Cameron urged Congress to pass the Combating Illicit Xylazine Act. The bipartisan legislation would curb the widespread use and trafficking of xylazine and help prevent overdose deaths. Xylazine is a pharmaceutical drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug[Read More…]
Fentanyl deaths in children increase 30X in the last ten years
by CNN Fatal overdoses involving fentanyl have surged in recent years in the US, and new research shows that deaths among children have increased significantly, mirroring trends among adults. More than 5,000 children and teens have died from overdoses involving fentanyl in the past two decades, according to data published Monday in JAMA[Read More…]
STUDY: Indiana, Kentucky among states with biggest drug problems
by: Jana Garrett HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) – The personal-finance website WalletHub has released its report on the states with the biggest drug problems, and Kentucky as well as Indiana make the list. WalletHub says, “Drug abuse has a long and storied history in the United States, and we’ve been ‘at war’ with[Read More…]
Opioid Addiction Treatment Rates in U.S. Have Flatlined, Study Finds
By Cara Murez | HealthDay Reporter FRIDAY, April 28, 2023 (HealthDay News) — The U.S. opioid crisis led to changes that make it easier for people struggling with addiction to get medication from a health care provider to help them quit. But researchers found that for some reason, rates of[Read More…]
‘Addiction medicine is primary care’: Patients who visit their primary care doctor for opioid addiction treatment reduce their overdose risk, a new study suggests
By AUBREY WHELAN | THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER PHILADELPHIA — As a primary care physician at Jefferson Health, Greg Jaffe helps his patients navigate diabetes and high blood pressure, flu shots and annual checkups — standard fare for a family medicine practitioner. But for many of his patients, he also oversees a[Read More…]
Millions with opioid addiction don’t receive residential treatment
Live-in facilities offer ‘some of the best treatment for those with severe substance use’ CHICAGO — Approximately 7 million adults in the U.S. are living with opioid use disorder (OUD). Yet a new Northwestern Medicine study that measured residential treatment use among Medicaid enrollees across nine states found only 7% of enrollees[Read More…]