Latest Opioids News

Local governments struggle to distribute their share of billions from opioid settlements

May. 12, 2024 00:58 AM EDT

Settlement money to help stem the decades-long opioid addiction and overdose epidemic is rolling out to small towns and big cities across the U.S., but advocates worry that chunks of it may be used in ways that don't make a dent in the crisis. As state and local governments navigate...

Editorial Roundup: New England

May. 10, 2024 12:09 PM EDT

Portland Press Herald. May 5, 2024. Editorial: On gun safety, Gov. Mills fell short By vetoing a ban on bump stocks and opting not to support the 72-hour waiting period, the governor let Mainers down. Gov. Janet Mills’ veto of a bill that would have...

Seattle to open short-term recovery center for people after a fentanyl overdose

May. 09, 2024 20:38 PM EDT

SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle will open a new space for people to recover and receive treatment for nearly 24 hours after they have overdosed on fentanyl or other drugs, Mayor Bruce Harrell announced Thursday. The center is slated to open near the Pioneer Square neighborhood in mid-2025...

Editorial Roundup: Georgia

May. 09, 2024 07:17 AM EDT

Dalton Daily Citizen. May 6, 2024. Editorial: Consider foster care In a perfect world, every child would have a home. It is not a perfect world. May is National Foster Care Month. Foster Care Month exists to raise awareness...

Pennsylvania will make the animal sedative xylazine a controlled substance

May. 08, 2024 19:04 PM EDT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro will sign legislation to criminalize the misuse of a powerful animal tranquilizer called xylazine that is showing up in supplies of illicit drugs and contributing to a growing number of human overdose deaths, his office said Wednesday. ...

Children are dying of fentanyl by the dozens in Missouri. A panel is calling for changes

May. 06, 2024 13:16 PM EDT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Fentanyl deaths among Missouri babies, toddlers and teens spiked as child welfare officials struggled to adequately investigate the cases, a state panel found in a newly released report. Forty-three youth died — 20 of them under the age of 4 — in 2022...

At least 9 dead, dozens treated in Texas capital after unusual spike in overdoses

May. 01, 2024 16:59 PM EDT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Authorities in Texas are investigating at least nine deaths this week in connection with an unusual spike of opioid overdoses in Austin that health officials are calling the city's worst overdose outbreak in nearly a decade. Emergency responders in the Texas...

Georgia governor signs bill into law restricting land sales to some Chinese citizens

Apr. 30, 2024 16:42 PM EDT

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Tuesday signed a bill into law limiting the ability of some Chinese citizens to buy land in the state. The bill, SB420, echoes measures already signed into law in numerous other states. It bans any “agent” of China from buying farmland...

California is joining with a New Jersey company to make a generic opioid overdose reversal drug

Apr. 29, 2024 17:41 PM EDT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will soon begin selling its own generic version of Narcan — the drug that can save someone's life during an opioid overdose — under a deal announced Monday by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom as part of his effort to offer less expensive, state-branded options...

Canadian province will make changes to try to stop drug use in public places, premier says

Apr. 26, 2024 21:03 PM EDT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — The government of the Canadian province of British Columbia is making changes to its drug decriminalization policy to stop drug use in public places. Premier David Eby told a news conference Friday the province is asking the federal government to...