• Art is a lifeline for this Appalachian community hit hard by opioids

    Art is a lifeline for this Appalachian community hit hard by opioids

    Dec 28, 2018 09:50 PM EDT

    ... make knives or build a backpack guitar, the arts tend to deliver a soothing, beneficial effect. Evans said one student in her ceramics class had overdosed on opioids so many times that he developed motor skill issues. He couldn’t control the pressure he applied to an item -- if he ...

  • These surprising health stories shaped 2018

    These surprising health stories shaped 2018

    Dec 26, 2018 10:28 PM EDT

    ... as it reduces medical debt and improves access to needed care.--Joan Alker, executive director for Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University Reducing overdose deaths Numerous studies show that overdose rates for those who were recently released from incarceration (specifically within the first two weeks of release) are ...

  • Opinion: ‘Passive’ fentanyl exposure: more myth than reality

    Opinion: ‘Passive’ fentanyl exposure: more myth than reality

    Dec 23, 2018 10:50 PM EDT

    ... and emergency departments, where fentanyl is routinely administered as a pain reliever. Doctors, nurses, and others in emergency departments who care for victims of fentanyl overdose are undoubtedly exposed to these drugs on patients’ clothing, skin, and paraphernalia. Workers in needle exchange programs and supervised consumption facilities are routinely exposed ...

  • Purdue’s secret OxyContin papers should be released, appeals court rules

    Purdue’s secret OxyContin papers should be released, appeals court rules

    Dec 15, 2018 08:07 PM EDT

    ... filed a motion more than two years ago to unseal the records — which were stored in a courthouse in a rural county hit hard by overdose deaths. STAT won a lower-court order in May 2016 to release the documents, but after Purdue appealed, the judge stayed that order. “We ...

  • Freshwater is getting saltier, threatening people and wildlife

    Freshwater is getting saltier, threatening people and wildlife

    Dec 09, 2018 05:48 PM EDT

    ... rushing in while trying to hold on to the salts,” Olson notes. But when the salt levels suddenly go up, the animals may get an overdose, adds entomologist John Jackson, who was not involved in Olson’s study. The Stroud Water Research Center in Pennsylvania, where Jackson is based, has ...

  • Kendrick Lamar leads Grammy noms; female artists make gains

    Kendrick Lamar leads Grammy noms; female artists make gains

    Dec 07, 2018 07:45 PM EDT

    ... is up for best rock performance with "When Bad Does Good." Demi Lovato, who relapsed after six years of sobriety and was hospitalized for an overdose in July, earned a nomination for best pop duo/group performance for "Fall In Line," her duet with Christina Aguilera. Those who earned four ...

  • Michael Bloomberg's charity donates $50 million to fight opioid epidemic

    Michael Bloomberg's charity donates $50 million to fight opioid epidemic

    Nov 30, 2018 02:35 PM EDT

    ... aspirations and the $50 million investment to fight opioids. Bloomberg's charity said CDC data shows there were more than 70,000 U.S. drug overdose deaths last year, including more than 47,000 from opioids, the highest numbers on record. It said those numbers are a leading factor in ...

  • News Wrap: Trump cancels Putin meeting at upcoming G-20

    News Wrap: Trump cancels Putin meeting at upcoming G-20

    Nov 29, 2018 11:40 PM EDT

    ... 8 million, driven not just by the elderly, but by younger and middle ages as well. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention blamed drug overdoses and the most suicides in 50 years. It says, as a result, life expectancy decreased for the second time in three years. A baby ...

  • American life expectancy has dropped again. Here's why

    American life expectancy has dropped again. Here's why

    Nov 29, 2018 09:33 PM EDT

    ... targeting the opioid crisis; continuous training for anyone in the medical field who has authority to prescribe opioids; and more resources for opioid addiction treatment, overdose reversal and recovery. But have those efforts made a dent in the 2018 number of fatal drug overdoses? Anderson said it is too early ...

  • News Wrap: Trump and Obama rally voters ahead of Election Day

    News Wrap: Trump and Obama rally voters ahead of Election Day

    Nov 02, 2018 10:50 PM EDT

    ... to the fighting in Yemen. It pits a Sunni coalition led by Saudi Arabia against Shiite rebels aligned with Iran. Back in this country, drug overdose deaths rose to an all-time high in 2017, driven by the opioid crisis. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency reports 72,000 people ...