Oct 23 Watch 5:11 Why this poet couldn’t avoid writing about the opioid crisis By PBS NewsHour The opioid crisis has plagued poet William Brewer’s hometown in West Virginia. His vivid poems tell the story of the opioid epidemic from different voices and depict the sense of bewilderment people find themselves in as addiction creeps into their… Continue watching
Oct 23 ‘Oh, they’re on the pills. We don’t really see them anymore.’ By Mary Jo Brooks Author William Brewer didn’t want to write a book about the drug crisis decimating his state, but it was a topic he couldn’t avoid. Watching the people around him succumb to addiction, he set out to capture the crisis in… Continue reading
Oct 16 Watch 11:11 New Mexico deploys best practices to avoid the worst outcomes in the opioid crisis By PBS NewsHour While states nationwide have been scrambling to respond to the deadly opioid epidemic, New Mexico has been hard at work with an aggressive response for years. So why have its addiction rates remained stubbornly high? Hari Sreenivasan visits a state… Continue watching
Oct 10 Gov. Christie says it’s ‘not good’ that Trump hasn’t declared emergency over opioid crisis By Michael Catalini, Associated Press Christie said Tuesday that recommendations from the president's commission are "lessened" without the declaration, but he says it's too soon to say whether not declaring one has made things worse. Continue reading
Oct 10 WATCH: First lady Melania Trump visits infant opioid treatment center in West Virginia By Joshua Barajas Trump will visit Lily's Place, a drug treatment center where staff ease help infants born with neonatal abstinence syndrome, a cluster of symptoms that stem from a newborn's exposure to opioids during a mother's pregnancy. Continue reading
Oct 08 Watch 9:47 In Kentucky, jail is becoming an addict’s last-resort rehab By Melanie Saltzman, Megan Thompson Despite high levels of drug abuse among the jail population nationwide, few facilities offer drug treatment programs. They don’t have the funds or the physical space. But the Kentucky Department of Corrections reports that statewide, half the people who went… Continue watching
Oct 07 Watch 10:48 Ohio sues big pharma over increase in opioid-related deaths By Melanie Saltzman In May, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, citing the rising death toll from opioid overdoses in his state, sued five pharmaceutical companies, accusing them of playing down the risks of painkiller addiction. Ohio is the largest of 10 states that… Continue watching
Oct 02 Watch 12:29 A community overwhelmed by opioids By Hari Sreenivasan, Jason Kane At the epicenter of America's opioid epidemic, Huntington, West Virginia’s growing addiction problem has overwhelmed everyone from first responders to business owners to newborns. So far, the city's robust efforts to fight back haven't been enough to curb the overdoses. Continue watching
Sep 06 WATCH: McCaskill announces findings of opioid report By Laura Santhanam Sen. Claire McCaskill is expected to speak around 2:30 p.m. ET. Watch live here. Continue reading
Aug 29 Sessions: Drug overdoses ‘the top lethal issue’ in the U.S. By Ivan Moreno, Associated Press GREEN BAY, Wis. — Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday called drug overdose deaths "the top lethal issue" in the U.S. and urged law enforcement and social workers to "create and foster a culture that's hostile to drug use."… Continue reading