• Do safe drug consumption sites save lives? Here's what we know about NYC's new venture

    Do safe drug consumption sites save lives? Here's what we know about NYC's new venture

    Dec 13, 2021 11:25 PM EDT

    ... doing the right thing for the right people.William Brangham: In the nearly two weeks these sites have been open, the nonprofit running them says 330 people have used them, and 36 people have been resuscitated from overdoses. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm William Brangham in New York City.

  • Hospitals refused to give patients Ivermectin. Lockdowns and political pressure followed

    Hospitals refused to give patients Ivermectin. Lockdowns and political pressure followed

    Dec 07, 2021 10:07 PM EDT

    ... lice and certain skin conditions in humans. But the FDA has not authorized the drug to treat COVID. The agency says that clinical trials are ongoing but that the current data does not show it is an effective COVID treatment and taking higher-than-approved levels can lead to overdose.

  • Tamara Keith and Amy Walter on omicron variant, Build Back Better bill, midterm elections

    Tamara Keith and Amy Walter on omicron variant, Build Back Better bill, midterm elections

    Nov 29, 2021 11:35 PM EDT

    ... just like this piece that ran before us about the mental health challenges for kids. We watched this year where we have record number of overdose deaths, that we have people getting in fights on airplanes and punching flight attendants, right? There's still -- we're still dealing with the ...

  • New omicron variant brings COVID-19 vaccine inequity 'home to roost'

    New omicron variant brings COVID-19 vaccine inequity 'home to roost'

    Nov 29, 2021 08:17 PM EDT

    ... among others, it admonished that "the majority of the donations to date have been ad hoc, provided with little notice and short shelf lives." Fury over dose dumping is already very real. In Malawi and South Sudan, tens of thousands of out-of-date doses were destroyed. But it's ...

  • November 18, 2021 - PBS NewsHour full episode

    November 18, 2021 - PBS NewsHour full episode

    Nov 19, 2021 01:10 AM EDT

    Thursday on the NewsHour, the House of Representatives is on the verge of passing the president's Build Back Better bill. Then, drug overdose deaths in the U.S. hit an all-time high in what the Biden administration calls "a national crisis." And, many incarcerated women are victims of ...

  • Biden picks former FDA chief Califf to again lead the agency

    Biden picks former FDA chief Califf to again lead the agency

    Nov 12, 2021 04:14 PM EDT

    ... drug and device study data. But his brief time as commissioner was dominated by unrelated pharmaceutical controversies, including the surging epidemic of opioid addiction and overdoses. He was among the first FDA officials to publicly acknowledge missteps in the agency’s oversight of painkillers like OxyContin, which is widely blamed ...

  • Oklahoma court overturns $465 million opioid ruling against Johnson & Johnson

    Oklahoma court overturns $465 million opioid ruling against Johnson & Johnson

    Nov 09, 2021 06:20 PM EDT

    State statistics show that from 2007 to 2017, more than 4,600 people in Oklahoma died from overdoses from opioids of all kinds, including prescription painkillers and illicit versions such as heroin and illegally made fentanyl. Nationally, opioids have been linked to more than 500,000 deaths since 2000. The ...

  • What young Americans think about vaccines and mandates

    What young Americans think about vaccines and mandates

    Nov 04, 2021 04:00 PM EDT

    ... 18 report from the CDC, emergency department visits tied to mental health rose 31 percent among adolescents in 2020 compared to the previous year. Drug overdose deaths surged in 2020. But suicides declined, defying expectations, and some experts suggest the data do not yet portray such a dire picture for ...

  • First steps made in Congress to honor pop superstar Prince

    First steps made in Congress to honor pop superstar Prince

    Oct 25, 2021 07:57 PM EDT

    ... a statement. Prince, whose hits include "Little Red Corvette," "Let's Go Crazy" and "When Doves Cry," died April 21, 2016, of an accidental fentanyl overdose at age 57 at his Paisley Park estate in Chanhassen, Minnesota. The resolution for Prince is led by Klobuchar and U.S. Rep. Ilhan ...

  • WATCH: Secretary Blinken, Mexico Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard give remarks

    WATCH: Secretary Blinken, Mexico Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard give remarks

    Oct 08, 2021 05:15 PM EDT

    ... with the United Nations to launch a program to better manage shipping containers to limit the importation of chemical precursors for synthetic drugs like fentanyl. Mexico seized an estimated 1.3 tons of the synthetic opioid last year. That same year, the U.S. recorded 93,000 drug overdose deaths.