Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Baltimore Is Ground Zero For Failing War Against Drugs, City's Attorney Tells U.S. House Panel On Crimes
The Baltimore Sun: Mosby Tells U.S. House Members That Baltimore Exemplifies Nation’s Failed War On Drugs
Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby told a U.S. House panel Wednesday that the city exemplifies the nation’s failed drug policies, and called on the government to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. “The reason I’m here today is because there is no better illumination of this country’s failed war on drugs than the city of Baltimore, Maryland,” Mosby told a House Judiciary subcommittee. “A mere 45 minutes away from our nation’s capital, Baltimore currently leads the nation in per capita homicides, rising opioid deaths and is one of the most impoverished cities in the nation.” (Barker, 7/10)
CNBC: How Ohio Is Coping With High Opioid Overdose Rate Slamming Its Economy
Montgomery County, in southwest Ohio, is ground zero for the opioid crisis. The region has one of the highest overdose death rates in the country — mostly due to the illicit use of these narcotics. This statewide plague has rocked communities as prison populations for drug offenders swell. It has employers grappling with ways to hire and keep their workforces productive and in lockstep with economic demand. (Ioannou, 7/10)
The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Reaches $1.4 Billion Opioid-Drug Settlement With U.K.’s Reckitt
Reckitt Benckiser Group RBGLY 0.56% PLC will pay up to $1.4 billion to settle U.S. investigations into whether its former pharmaceuticals unit organized a multibillion-dollar fraud to drive up sales of an opioid-addiction treatment. The U.K. consumer-goods company—which owns Lysol cleaner and Durex condoms—on Thursday said it struck a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to resolve their long-running investigations into the sales and marketing of Suboxone Film. (Chaudhuri, 7/11)
The New York Times: When Patients Need Opioids To Ease The Pain
My patient, a yoga instructor, had already received a week of chemotherapy, so he couldn’t be called a complete newcomer to the side effects of his treatment. But he was still bracing himself for what was yet to come. He was in his 70s and had a rare variety of a rare cancer: acute lymphocytic leukemia, which affects fewer than 3,000 adults yearly in the United States, along with the more common acute myeloid leukemia. Usually, leukemia chooses to corrupt only one tribe of our white blood cells: myeloid or lymphoid, the soldiers of the immune system; his had chosen both. (Sekeres, 7/10)
Kaiser Health News: Medicare Going In ‘Right Direction’ On Opioid Epidemic
Prescriptions for two drugs used to treat opioid addiction increased significantly from 2016 to 2018 for people on Medicare, according to a federal report out Wednesday. About 174,000 Medicare beneficiaries received such a medication — either buprenorphine or naltrexone — to help them with recovery in 2018, according to the Office of Inspector General in the Department of Health and Human Services. (Bebinger, 7/10)
Arizona Republic: Phoenix Police To Expand Use Of Narcan, Opioid Overdose Reversal Drug
The Phoenix Police Department has begun training and certifying patrol officers in how to use an opioid overdose reversal drug. The police department was the largest law enforcement agency in Arizona with officers who didn't carry the opioid overdose reversal drug. (Curtis, 7/10)
New Hampshire Public Radio: Dover Youth Work To Bust Myths About Teen Substance Use
Members of the Dover youth advocacy group Youth to Youth gathered this morning in Dover’s Henry Law Park, in an attempt to change public perception about teen substance use. They chanted “Monsters, aliens, just aren’t real. Most teens don’t drink, that’s the deal!” To accompany their words, students held signs, posters and and inflatable mythical creatures. (Fam, 7/10)
