• Opioid deaths are surging in the pandemic. Here's how treatment is adapting

    Opioid deaths are surging in the pandemic. Here's how treatment is adapting

    Aug 07, 2020 08:13 PM EDT

    ... according to a statement from Preckwinkle’s office. U.S. border closings have disrupted illegal drug trafficking, doctors say, leading to higher concentrations of synthetic fentanyl to make up for heroin “shortages” and potentially causing inconsistencies in what is sold and used on U.S. streets. Some drug users might ...

  • How the pandemic is complicating America's addiction crisis

    How the pandemic is complicating America's addiction crisis

    Jul 22, 2020 10:35 PM EDT

    ... have opioid addiction can find those. And this is one of the reasons that the increased mortality rates that many states have reported due to fentanyl are so concerning. William Brangham: Alexander says, in normal times, a disruption in the illegal drug market would likely help funnel more people into ...

  • Minnesota files civil rights charge against Minneapolis police over Floyd death

    Minnesota files civil rights charge against Minneapolis police over Floyd death

    Jun 02, 2020 08:00 PM EDT

    ... the official autopsy that found his death was caused by cardiac arrest as police restrained him and compressed his neck. The medical examiner also listed fentanyl intoxication and recent methamphetamine use, but not as the cause of death. A separate autopsy commissioned for Floyd’s family concluded that that he ...

  • Walgreens to pay $7.5M in settlement over alleged phony pharmacist

    Walgreens to pay $7.5M in settlement over alleged phony pharmacist

    Feb 04, 2020 01:00 AM EDT

    ... them and dispense prescriptions at Walgreens stores in Santa Clara and Alameda counties. The prescriptions allegedly included more than 100,000 for opioids such as fentanyl, morphine and codeine. Le herself didn't have a pharmacist license, prosecutors said. The district attorneys in both counties filed a consumer protection action ...

  • For 1st time in 4 years, U.S. life expectancy rises, but only a little

    For 1st time in 4 years, U.S. life expectancy rises, but only a little

    Jan 30, 2020 07:32 PM EDT

    ... in 2018 and the number of deaths dropped to about 67,400. Deaths from heroin and prescription painkillers went down, however, deaths from other drugs — fentanyl, cocaine and meth — continued to go up. And preliminary data for the first half of 2019 suggest the overall decline in overdose deaths is ...

  • Drug company executives face prison time for role in opioid epidemic

    Drug company executives face prison time for role in opioid epidemic

    Jan 24, 2020 11:40 PM EDT

    The drug was designed specifically for end-stage cancer patients. The main ingredient? Fentanyl, which is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. The company wanted doctors to write as many prescriptions as possible, and for as high a dose as possible. In his job interview in 2012, Burlakoff told ...

  • Former Insys Therapeutics Chairman sentenced for role in opioid scheme

    Former Insys Therapeutics Chairman sentenced for role in opioid scheme

    Jan 23, 2020 10:50 PM EDT

    Jurors were also shown a rap video in which Insys employees danced and rapped around a person dressed as a giant bottle of the fentanyl spray. Prosecutors said the video was shown at a national sales meeting in 2015 and was intended to motivate reps to push Subsys to doctors ...

  • What Phase 1 of Trump's China trade deal includes -- and what it doesn't

    What Phase 1 of Trump's China trade deal includes -- and what it doesn't

    Jan 15, 2020 11:35 PM EDT

    ... the hacking of our computers by the Chinese government to steal our business trade secrets. And the worst thing is, they're killing Americans with fentanyl, OK? But -- but we do have those tariffs in place. Those tariffs serve two things. They're the best defense against the Chinese in ...

  • The influential people we said goodbye to in 2019

    The influential people we said goodbye to in 2019

    Dec 28, 2019 12:08 AM EDT

    Tyler Skaggs, 27. The left-handed pitcher who was a regular in the Los Angeles Angels' starting rotation since late 2016 and struggled with injuries repeatedly in that time. July 1. Choked on his own vomit and had a toxic mix of alcohol and painkillers fentanyl and oxycodone in his ...

  • 11 senators ask Purdue Pharma not to give CEO a bonus

    11 senators ask Purdue Pharma not to give CEO a bonus

    Dec 17, 2019 08:15 PM EDT

    ... lawsuits the company faces over OxyContin, a highly addictive prescription opioid. The entire class of drugs, including illicit versions such as heroin and illegally made fentanyl, have been linked to more than 400,000 deaths in the U.S. since 2000. Landau has denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyer has ...