College Campuses A Hotbed For Opioid Crisis: ‘During Accounting 101, I’m In The Bathroom Snorting Heroin’
Although abuse of painkillers seems to actually be dropping, the number of deaths has been rising. Media outlets report news from Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio and Massachusetts.
The New York Times:
Opioids On The Quad
As other college students head out to party on a Saturday night, Julie Linneman, a sophomore at Villanova University, rides the subway to a small rowhouse in West Philadelphia to meet with “her people,” a posse of students who understand what it’s like to be taken down by opioids. Ms. Linneman is a bespectacled 22-year-old who favors shredded jeans. She is a fan of cooking shows, fantasy fiction and Paul McCartney. She spent her first attempt at sophomore year — the one at Northern Kentucky University — in her dorm room, high on heroin. (Spencer, 10/30)
The Hill:
Drug Exec Accused Of Bribing Doctors To Prescribe Opioid Drug
The billionaire founder and top executive of a drug company that manufactures a prescription opioid has been arrested and charged with bribing doctors to overprescribe the drug, CNN reports. John Kapoor, 74, of Insys Therapeutics, was arrested Thursday in Arizona. Authorities say his company had been giving illegal kickbacks to doctors to encourage prescriptions of the powerful painkiller Subsys, which is typically only used for end-stage cancer patients. (Delk, 10/27)
The New York Times:
Florida Sheriff Posts Graphic Overdose Video To Combat Opioid Crisis
It’s a video that might elicit a lingering sense of dread and, perhaps, déjà vu. A sheriff’s deputy approaches a dark blue Nissan with its door ajar in a darkened convenience store parking lot. A man and a woman are passed out in the front seats, their bodies gaunt and motionless. In the back, a baby girl, 8 months old, is asleep, strapped in a car seat. (Ugwu, 10/26)
The Washington Post:
A Shocking Overdose Photo Exposed Her Addiction — And May Have Saved Her Life
Erika Hurt had become the face of drug addiction. The young mother was captured in a photograph by police, passed out in the driver's seat of her car outside a Dollar General store in Hope, Ind. — an empty syringe still resting between the 25-year-old addict's fingers. The snapshot captured yet another horrifying moment in the worsening U.S. opioid epidemic. What was not seen that Saturday afternoon last October was her 10-month-old son, buckled into his car seat in the back. (Bever, 10/27)
NPR:
Baltimore Needs More Funds To Buy Opioid Overdose Drug To Save Lives
As deaths from opioid overdoses rise around the country, the city of Baltimore feels the weight of the epidemic. "I see the impact every single day," says Leana Wen, the city health commissioner. "We have two people in our city dying from overdose every day." As part of Baltimore's strategy to tackle the problem, Wen issued a blanket prescription for the opioid overdose drug naloxone, which often comes in a nasal spray, to all city residents in 2015. (Aubrey, 10/27)
The Washington Post:
Even This Puppy Wasn’t Safe From America’s Opioid Crisis
Like most puppies, Zoey is energetic and insatiably curious. When she’s outside, the 3-month-old yellow Labrador keeps her nose pointed to the ground, sniffing things, tackling flowers and chewing on random objects without hesitation. Such was the case on a recent morning, when owner Peter Thibault took Zoey out for a walk on their wooded neighborhood street in Andover, Mass. At some point, he noticed Zoey had lunged toward an empty cigarette box that had been discarded near a tree — and then put it in her mouth. He bent down to try to take the package away from her. (Wang, 10/28)
Arizona Republic:
Over 400 Opioid-Overdose Deaths Reported Across Arizona Since June
More than 3,200 suspected opioid overdoses have been reported to state officials since June 15, with more than 400 of those deaths, the Arizona Department of Health Services said. The updated data, released in an Oct. 17 blog post by ADHS Director Cara Christ, highlights a growing problem in Arizona and nationally. (McCrory, 10/27)
The Star Tribune:
In Opioid Epidemic, Children Are Becoming The Unseen Victims
The number of overdose deaths involving opioids has quadrupled since 1999, federal health data show. Last year in Minnesota, the number of drug overdose deaths was nearly six times higher than it was in 2000. As a result, many children have been orphaned, sent to live in foster homes or with relatives. (Shah, 10/29)
Cincinnati Enquirer:
Heroin-Addicted Cry Out For Treatment Now, But Help Can Be Slow
Addiction doctors say that the Cincinnati region does not have enough treatment facilities for everyone who needs the help. Many who want treatment do not know how to get what is available, and many who are addicted do not have the means, including transportation or a phone, to find treatment. (DeMio, 10/29)
Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Cuyahoga County Files Lawsuit Accusing Drug Companies Of Racketeering, Leading To Opioid Epidemic
Cuyahoga County officials on Friday filed a lawsuit accusing several major prescription drug companies of intentionally misleading the public about the dangers of opioids to sell more painkillers as they raked in "blockbuster profits." The 269-page complaint, filed in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, claims drug manufacturers, distributors and four influential doctors unjustly enriched themselves as they acted as a criminal enterprise and conspired to break numerous state laws meant to protect consumers. (Shaffer, 10/27)
