Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Chicago Area Records 40% Drop In Fatal Drug Overdoses For 2025
Chicago Tribune: Opioid Deaths In Chicago And Cook County Decline In 2025
Chicago and Cook County saw another steep decline in fatal opioid overdoses last year, records show, four years after a recent peak in such cases during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Charles, 1/7)
WGAL: New Law: EMS Overdose Reports Now Feed Pennsylvania’s Statewide Tracking System
The law ensures drug overdoses treated by emergency medical workers are tracked in a statewide system. The law took effect at the start of this year. (1/6)
On recovery from substance abuse —
KFF Health News: In Lodge Grass, Montana, A Crow Community Works To Rebuild From Meth’s Destruction
Brothers Lonny and Teyon Fritzler walked amid the tall grass and cottonwood trees surrounding their boarded-up childhood home near the Little Bighorn River and daydreamed about ways to rebuild. The rolling prairie outside the single-story clapboard home is where Lonny learned from their grandfather how to break horses. It’s where Teyon learned from their grandmother how to harvest buffalo berries. It’s also where they watched their father get addicted to meth. (Houghton, 1/8)
North Carolina Health News: North Carolina Expands Peer Support Mental Health Programs
Thanos first stepped into the peer cafe across from the bus station in downtown Raleigh looking for his friend — and the promise of a free coffee. What keeps him coming back months later is a community of people and group sessions that have supported his substance use recovery. (Knopf, 1/8)
The Baltimore Sun: Horse Sedative Appearing In Fentanyl Brings Severe Withdrawal
Emergency doctors in Baltimore are wary of a new additive to street fentanyl that can complicate overdose treatment and prompt severe withdrawal symptoms. (Hille, 1/6)
MedPage Today: Downward Dog For Opioid Withdrawal?
Yoga alongside standard buprenorphine therapy hastened opioid withdrawal recovery and improved autonomic regulation compared with buprenorphine alone, an early-stage randomized trial in India showed. Among 59 participants with opioid use disorder in the intent-to-treat analysis, those in the yoga group recovered from withdrawal faster than those in the control group, with a median stabilization time of 5 days versus 9 days, respectively, researchers said. (Firth, 1/7)
Medical Xpress: Longer Treatment With Medications For Opioid Use Disorder Associated With Greater Probability Of Survival
A new study of over 32,000 US veterans has found that the longer people stay on medications for opioid use disorder (buprenorphine, methadone, or extended-release naltrexone), the greater the probability of short- and medium-term survival. This benefit continues to increase for at least four years of ongoing treatment, considerably longer than most patients currently stay in treatment. (1/8)
