• White House launches anti-opioid ad campaign aimed at youth

    White House launches anti-opioid ad campaign aimed at youth

    Jun 07, 2018 03:01 PM EDT

    ... health emergency last October and the federal government is expected to spend a record $4.6 billion this year to fight the opioid crisis. Drug overdose deaths involving opioids rose to about 46,000 for the 12-month period that ended in October 2017, up about 15 percent from October ...

  • Judge sides with Philadelphia in sanctuary city fight

    Judge sides with Philadelphia in sanctuary city fight

    Jun 06, 2018 04:55 PM EDT

    ... Philadelphia's attorneys had argued the move is unconstitutional and that it harms residents by withholding money earmarked to help buy kits to counteract opioid overdoses. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said that cities that don't help enforce immigration law are endangering public safety, especially when it comes to ...

  • Mentoring program connects children of incarcerated parents with support

    Mentoring program connects children of incarcerated parents with support

    May 13, 2018 08:06 PM EDT

    ... in terms of the substance abuse, drug trafficking, drug changing, you know, to new designer drugs. MEGAN THOMPSON: Last year, the Kokomo area had 44 overdose deaths - almost double the number during the previous year. The number of people put in jail has increased 18% over the last two years ...

  • Drug distributors missed suspicious opioid sales to West Virginia, lawmakers say

    Drug distributors missed suspicious opioid sales to West Virginia, lawmakers say

    May 08, 2018 06:11 PM EDT

    ... The denials drew an angry response from Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., whose state has had the nation's highest death rate from drug overdoses. "The fury inside me right now is bubbling over," he told the executives. He added later, "I think you very much were responsible." George ...

  • 5 important stories you may have missed

    5 important stories you may have missed

    May 07, 2018 09:40 PM EDT

    ... Bill de Blasio said the city will develop plans to open up to four safe injection sites for heroin users. Supporters say the sites decrease overdoses because there are staff with naloxone, which helps reverse the effects of an overdose, and that they also reduce diseases spread through sharing needles ...

  • How an opioid addiction can eat your heart alive

    How an opioid addiction can eat your heart alive

    Apr 30, 2018 10:30 PM EDT

    The pathway to deadly heart infections for people addicted to opioids often begins with a dirty needle or polluted drug. Special correspondent Kay Colby of Ideastream reports on a little-known problem with big consequences for patients and society as a whole. ... Judy Woodruff: While statistics about overdose deaths from ...

  • Medicare doesn't cover methadone treatment. Here's how Congress may change that

    Medicare doesn't cover methadone treatment. Here's how Congress may change that

    Apr 24, 2018 11:09 AM EDT

    ... prescribe it. A recent study of Medicare claims found prescriptions for buprenorphine for only 81,000 patients. More evidence that the crisis affects seniors: Opioid overdoses killed 1,354 Americans ages 65 and older in 2016, about 3 percent of the 42,000 opioid overdoses that year. Medicare's policy ...

  • News Wrap: Kim Jong Un may be willing to drop key condition

    News Wrap: Kim Jong Un may be willing to drop key condition

    Apr 19, 2018 10:50 PM EDT

    ... men who were arrested said today there were moments that they wondered if they would survive the incident. No criminal charges will filed in the overdose death of the musician Prince in April 2016. A Minnesota prosecutor announced today that there's no clear evidence of how Prince obtained the ...

  • Doctor who treated Prince agrees to pay $30,000 settlement for illegal prescription

    Doctor who treated Prince agrees to pay $30,000 settlement for illegal prescription

    Apr 19, 2018 03:23 PM EDT

    The settlement between the U.S. Attorney's Office and Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg comes as state prosecutors prepared to announce Thursday morning whether they'll file any criminal charges stemming from their two-year investigation into Prince's death.

  • Americans filling far fewer opioid prescriptions, new data show

    Americans filling far fewer opioid prescriptions, new data show

    Apr 19, 2018 03:10 PM EDT

    Opioid prescriptions and daily doses rose steadily starting in the 1990s, fueled by factors including marketing of new opioid pills such as Oxycontin. The U.S. is estimated to consume roughly 30 percent of all opioids used worldwide.