• New research finds rural Americans don’t live as long as city-dwellers

    New research finds rural Americans don’t live as long as city-dwellers

    Feb 15, 2025 07:05 PM EST

    WATCH: Wider access to Narcan helps rural communities fight overdose deaths The main causes of deaths of despair – drug overdoses, liver disease and suicide – have also been called “diseases of despair.” But the conditions we study, such as heart disease, could similarly be influenced by social and economic prospects. And ...

  • Trump administration ends Biden-era task force aimed at seizing Russian oligarchs' assets

    Trump administration ends Biden-era task force aimed at seizing Russian oligarchs' assets

    Feb 07, 2025 02:48 PM EST

    ... The Trump administration has made combating the illicit flow of fentanyl into the U.S. a priority. The opioid is blamed for some 70,000 overdose deaths annually. The Justice Department on Wednesday also shifted its approach to enforcement of a World War II-era law known as the Foreign ...

  • FDA approves painkiller designed to eliminate the risk of addiction associated with opioids

    FDA approves painkiller designed to eliminate the risk of addiction associated with opioids

    Jan 31, 2025 03:43 PM EST

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal officials on Thursday approved a new type of pain pill designed to eliminate the risks of addiction and overdose associated with opioid medications like Vicodin and OxyContin. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it approved Vertex Pharmaceuticals' Journavx for short-term pain that often follows ...

  • Marianne Faithfull, British singer, actor and pop icon, dies at 78

    Marianne Faithfull, British singer, actor and pop icon, dies at 78

    Jan 30, 2025 09:25 PM EST

    ... and physical pain. She had become addicted to heroin in the late '60s, suffered a miscarriage while seven months pregnant and nearly died from an overdose of sleeping pills. (Jagger, meanwhile, had an affair with Pallenberg and had a baby with actor Marsha Hunt). By the early '70s, Faithfull was ...

  • As recovering addicts age, many struggle to get care for long-term health issues

    As recovering addicts age, many struggle to get care for long-term health issues

    Jan 12, 2025 10:10 PM EST

    The graying of America is being reflected in the nation’s drug crisis. Even as overdose deaths drop, millions of aging former drug users are living with long-term health challenges exacerbated by their previous substance use. We hear from a number of people in recovery about their experiences, and ...

  • New mothers face barriers getting the mental health care so many need

    New mothers face barriers getting the mental health care so many need

    Dec 31, 2024 11:30 PM EST

    Maternal mortality rates have soared in the U.S. to nearly three times those of other high-income countries. Over 20 percent of deaths among new mothers are from suicide and overdose. Researchers and service providers have made progress in addressing postpartum depression and anxiety, but barriers to care remain ...

  • Opioid crisis renews focus on expanding access to methadone treatment

    Opioid crisis renews focus on expanding access to methadone treatment

    Dec 17, 2024 11:35 PM EST

    But that legislation stalled and made concerns among some in the medical community that loosening methadone safeguards could backfire. Dr. Kenneth Stoller, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine: People who are just starting on methadone are actually at a higher risk of overdose for the first couple of weeks than ...

  • WATCH: DOJ holds briefing on $650M settlement with McKinsey for its role in opioid epidemic

    WATCH: DOJ holds briefing on $650M settlement with McKinsey for its role in opioid epidemic

    Dec 13, 2024 05:33 PM EST

    ... regret for our firm.” It's the latest effort by federal prosecutors to hold accountable companies officials say helped fuel the U.S. addiction and overdose crisis, with opioids linked to more than 80,000 annual deaths in some recent years. For the past decade, most of them have been ...

  • U.S. Biathlon leaders ignored reports of sexual harassment and abuse for decades, female athletes say

    U.S. Biathlon leaders ignored reports of sexual harassment and abuse for decades, female athletes say

    Dec 11, 2024 06:23 PM EST

    ... stop coaching Boutot, the treatment summary said. “He did not do this until after the suicide attempt,” Pauli-Ritz wrote, referring to Boutot's 2010 overdose on antidepressants at training camp. The next day, Colliander resigned. He took a coaching job in Colorado and was hired in December 2016 by ...

  • People hit hardest by opioid crisis often don't get a say in how settlement money is spent

    People hit hardest by opioid crisis often don't get a say in how settlement money is spent

    Dec 09, 2024 11:01 PM EST

    ... made those decisions thinks that’s the best use of the funding,” said Alicia House, executive director of the Steve Rummler Hope Network, which provides overdose prevention and education across Minnesota. Renville County Sheriff Scott Hable said in an interview that keeping drugs out of the jail — without subjecting people ...