• Why Indigenous people in cities feel ‘invisible’ as pandemic wears on

    Why Indigenous people in cities feel ‘invisible’ as pandemic wears on

    Feb 23, 2021 08:21 PM EST

    ... behavioral health problems, like domestic abuse and misusing substances. CDC numbers show the pandemic has exacerbated the suffering of Americans struggling with substance use. Drug overdose deaths have reached historic highs. Many urban Indigenous programs do outreach specifically aimed at behavioral health problems. But the programs don’t exist everywhere ...

  • U.S. military grapples with a rising epidemic of sexual assault in its ranks

    U.S. military grapples with a rising epidemic of sexual assault in its ranks

    Feb 19, 2021 11:40 PM EST

    ... close. Anthony saw his sister's descent. She started drinking and taking pills, and became self-destructive. She got a DUI. She died of an overdose. But, in counseling, Anthony says she was told not to tell anyone anything. Anthony Graham: They heard her story. And then, right afterwards, they ...

  • Battered by the pandemic, communities of color experience sharp drop in life expectancies

    Battered by the pandemic, communities of color experience sharp drop in life expectancies

    Feb 18, 2021 11:45 PM EST

    ... spans fell in this country by a year on average in the first half of 2020. That is the largest drop since World War II. Overdoses, heart attacks and other illnesses are part of that. But researchers say the pandemic undoubtedly is a major factor. Moreover, the gaps along racial ...

  • Rep. Dean and her son share their family's struggle with addiction in new memoir

    Rep. Dean and her son share their family's struggle with addiction in new memoir

    Feb 17, 2021 11:25 PM EST

    ... important to you to write about it? Rep. Madeleine Dean: I think for those reasons. You know, this past year, 81,000 people died of overdose from addiction. That's more than 200 people a day, every single day, 365 days a year. So, we thought that, if we wrote ...

  • Hustler publisher Larry Flynt dies at 78

    Hustler publisher Larry Flynt dies at 78

    Feb 11, 2021 12:40 AM EST

    ... and used a wheelchair the rest of his life. He fought battles with drug and alcohol addiction, and his fourth wife died of a heroin overdose. His daughter, Lisa Flynt-Fugate, died in a 2014 car crash in Ohio at age 47.With a fortune estimated at more than $100 ...

  • How a powerful corporate consulting firm helped create the opioid epidemic

    How a powerful corporate consulting firm helped create the opioid epidemic

    Feb 10, 2021 11:25 PM EST

    ... the more egregious tactics that the complaint alleges was proposed by McKinsey consultants was giving the idea to give rebates to pharmacies when their customers overdosed on OxyContin. Now, there's no evidence that that was actually enacted, but, Madam Attorney General, what does that tell you about these entities ...

  • News Wrap: Smartmatic files suit against Fox News, Trump’s lawyers over election claims

    News Wrap: Smartmatic files suit against Fox News, Trump’s lawyers over election claims

    Feb 04, 2021 11:45 PM EST

    ... also sued Giuliani and Powell. A consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, has agreed to pay almost $600 million for boosting U.S. opioid sales as overdoses surged. Court documents showed McKinsey worked closely with Purdue Pharma to market more OxyContin. McKinsey says that it has reached agreements with every state ...

  • McKinsey & Company agrees to pay nearly $600 million over opioid crisis

    McKinsey & Company agrees to pay nearly $600 million over opioid crisis

    Feb 04, 2021 07:57 PM EST

    ... and McKinsey's fees all skyrocketed," said Stein, whose state stands to receive nearly $19 million in the settlement. "But so did the number of overdoses." Stein said the settlement funds could go toward addiction treatment in health care settings, as well as in jails, plus programs like needle exchanges ...

  • The data behind 9 big challenges facing Biden

    The data behind 9 big challenges facing Biden

    Jan 22, 2021 10:12 PM EST

    ... estimate that is likely an undercount — compared to 2,815 deaths in the same amount of time before the pandemic. Washington, D.C., saw drug overdose deaths increase nearly 60 percent — the largest change in the country. While drug overdose deaths began to rise prior to the COVID-19 pandemic ...

  • Sheldon Adelson, casino mogul and GOP power broker, dies

    Sheldon Adelson, casino mogul and GOP power broker, dies

    Jan 12, 2021 02:04 PM EST

    ... committed to the research and treatment of substance abuse, a personal cause for Sheldon Adelson. His son Mitchell, from his first marriage, died of an overdose in 2005. (Sheldon Adelson would spend millions opposing state efforts to legalize marijuana). Sheldon Garry Adelson was born in 1933, in the Dorchester neighborhood ...