• Oklahoma settles with maker of OxyContin over opioid crisis

    Oklahoma settles with maker of OxyContin over opioid crisis

    Mar 26, 2019 03:11 PM EST

    ... Pharma, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Oklahoma sued opioid manufacturers in 2017, accusing them of fraudulent marketing that led to thousands of overdoses and deaths. State officials have said that since 2009, more Oklahomans have died from opioids than in vehicle crashes.This month, Purdue Pharma officials ...

  • What novelist Don Winslow thinks of America's war on drugs

    What novelist Don Winslow thinks of America's war on drugs

    Mar 23, 2019 09:25 PM EST

    Don Winslow: And all you have to do is look at the numbers. Since he was captured and recaptured or re-recaptured, the importation of drugs into America has not fallen, it's risen. The number of overdose deaths have not fallen, it's risen. Jeff Greenfield: And as for ...

  • Will fewer opioid prescriptions help kick the crisis?

    Will fewer opioid prescriptions help kick the crisis?

    Mar 15, 2019 09:49 PM EST

    ... health outcomes without intervention or treatment, possibly perpetuating more overdoses and deaths. “We're cautiously optimistic that providers are changing their behavior, but we really do have quite a ways to go,” Maestas said. “Until we see overdose mortality come down, we can't say we've figured this out.”

  • Australian cardinal Pell sentenced to six years for child sex abuse

    Australian cardinal Pell sentenced to six years for child sex abuse

    Mar 13, 2019 12:10 PM EST

    ... is no rest for me. Everything is overshadowed by the forthcoming appeal." The father of one of Pell's victims who died of a heroin overdose in 2014 at the age of 31 paid tribute to his son's childhood friend for speaking out. "I commend the young fellow who ...

  • Drug company CEOs admit prescription prices are too high. But will they change?

    Drug company CEOs admit prescription prices are too high. But will they change?

    Feb 27, 2019 02:05 PM EST

    ... drug prices. In his State of the Department address on Feb. 22, he said lowering prescription drug prices was one of his top four policy priorities for 2019, along with combating opioid overdoses and deaths, improving the individual insurance market and injecting value-based practices into the health care system.

  • Vatican official convicted of child sex abuse in Australian court

    Vatican official convicted of child sex abuse in Australian court

    Feb 26, 2019 01:38 AM EST

    The other victim died of a heroin overdose in 2014 without ever complaining of the abuse, and even denying to his suspicious mother that he had been molested while he was part of the choir. Neither boy can be identified. More than a month later, the complainant testified that Pell ...

  • Schumer announces fentanyl sanctions bill before China talks

    Schumer announces fentanyl sanctions bill before China talks

    Feb 10, 2019 08:26 PM EST

    ... States,” Schumer said. Preliminary data released by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in November showed that about 49,060 people died from opioid-related overdose deaths in 2017, a rise from the reported 42,249 opioid overdose deaths in 2016. Fentanyl and other related opioids, which tend to be ...

  • This grieving family wants pharmaceutical companies held accountable for opioid deaths

    This grieving family wants pharmaceutical companies held accountable for opioid deaths

    Feb 08, 2019 11:30 PM EST

    And he realized that they were all parents of other people who had also died from opiate overdoses. And he thought, you know, we already know this. We don't need to learn in lesson. We already learned it the hard way. Where is everyone else? And that was sort ...

  • Purdue Pharma family sought to profit off opioid crisis, filing alleges

    Purdue Pharma family sought to profit off opioid crisis, filing alleges

    Feb 01, 2019 08:48 PM EST

    ... an attractive market," an internal memo read, according to the suit. The company later explored selling naloxone — known by its brand name Narcan — which reverses overdoses, the state's lawyers contend. A presentation made to the board in 2016 said that Narcan could bring in $24 million in sales to ...

  • U.S. border agency says fentanyl bust is its biggest ever

    U.S. border agency says fentanyl bust is its biggest ever

    Jan 31, 2019 11:56 PM EST

    ... fentanyl overdoses are rising. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says in a recent report that fentanyl is now the drug most often involved in fatal overdoses across the country, accounting for more than 18,000, or almost 29 percent, of the 63,000 overdose fatalities in 2016.