A Year After Prince’s Death Put A Spotlight On Opioid Crisis, Questions Still Remain
Investigators are still trying to figure out how the singer got the fentanyl. Meanwhile, military leaders are calling for more ships to be able to police the drug flow into the U.S. from China, and a look at the "smart use" rules people are coming up with in the era of powerful opioids.
The New York Times:
Prince’s Death: One Year Later, Unsolved Mysteries
It is one of the great mysteries in recent American pop culture: the death of Prince almost one year ago and the circumstances that led him to be found crumpled on the floor of an elevator at his sprawling residence Paisley Park outside of Minneapolis. How did he come into possession of the powerful opioid fentanyl, which killed him in what the coroner ruled was an accidental overdose? How did he so expertly conceal what appears to have been his addiction to pain medicines? And who, if anyone, bears some responsibility for his demise at 57? (Eldred, Kovaleski and Sisario, 4/7)
CQ Roll Call:
U.S. Drug Epidemic Fuels Push For Warships
The U.S. military can only intercept a quarter of known drug shipments in the Caribbean and Latin America because U.S. Southern Command has only about a quarter of the ships it needs, the regional commander testified Thursday. With drug-related deaths soaring in the United States, the need to combat the supply side of the problem could drive up congressional calls for more military procurement. Adm. Kurt Tidd, the Southern Command’s top officer, told Senate Armed Services he has a longstanding requirement for 23 ships and associated aircraft but only has “on any given day probably about six ships.” Because of the shortages, Tidd says he can only intercept 25 percent of the drugs known to be transiting through the region. (Donnelly, 4/6)
Kaiser Health News:
Another Circle Of Hell: Surviving Opioids In The Fentanyl Era
There’s a clear culprit in the rising drug overdose death count in Massachusetts — the synthetic opioid fentanyl. More powerful and more deadly than heroin, fentanyl has sparked a new set of survival rules among people who abuse opioids. About 75 percent of the state’s men and women who died after an unintentional overdose last year had fentanyl in their system, up from 57 percent in 2015. It’s a pattern cities and towns are seeing across the state and country, particularly in New England and some Rust Belt states. (Bebinger, 4/7)
And in other news on the crisis —
Chicago Tribune:
Cost Of Substance Abuse Hits Employers Hard, New Tool Shows
As headlines scream about the ravages of the nation's growing opioid epidemic, employers are waking up to the notion that substance abuse may be wreaking havoc in a nearby cubicle — and a new tool aims to help them see just how costly that can be. The Substance Use Cost Calculator lets employers enter their industry, location and organization size to determine how much substance abuse might be costing the company. ... For example, in Illinois, a 150-worker construction company — an industry with twice the national average when it comes to the number of employees with substance use disorders — could face $57,387 in annual costs from substance abuse because of lost time, turnover and health care expenses. (Elejalde-Ruiz, 4/6)
The Associated Press:
New Mexico To Require Officers To Carry Overdose Antidote
New Mexico on Thursday became the first U.S. state to require all local and state law enforcement agencies to provide officers with antidote kits as the state works to curb deaths from opioid and heroin overdoses. Surrounded by advocates and parents who had lost children to overdoses, Gov. Susana Martinez signed legislation that was approved unanimously by lawmakers during their recent session. (4/6)
