Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
DEA Failed To Limit Wholesale Opioid Distributor, Worsening Crisis: Report
AP: DEA's Failure To Punish Distributor Blamed In Opioid Crisis Raises Revolving Door Questions
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has allowed one of the nation’s largest wholesale drug distributors to keep shipping highly addictive painkillers for nearly four years after a judge recommended it be stripped of its license for its “cavalier disregard” of thousands of suspicious orders fueling the opioid crisis. The DEA did not respond to repeated questions from The Associated Press about its handling of the case against Morris & Dickson Co. or the involvement of a high-profile consultant the company had hired to stave off punishment and who is now DEA Administrator Anne Milgram’s top deputy. (Mustian and Goodman, 5/25)
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Axios: GOP Fentanyl Plan Exposes Fault Lines Over Policing In Drug Policy
House Republicans' first major attempt to address the opioid crisis since taking power is resurfacing a long-running debate over the role of law enforcement in drug policy. The GOP-sponsored HALT Fentanyl Act is up for a House vote on Thursday, marking the 117th Congress' first substantive response to the epidemic. (Moreno, 5/25)
Axios: San Francisco To Launch Pilot Program To Address Fentanyl Crisis
San Francisco's emergency management department announced Tuesday it would launch a pilot program to address "when someone is so far under the influence of drugs that they may pose a danger to themselves or others," The San Francisco Chronicle reports. San Francisco is amid a deadly drug overdose epidemic, primarily driven by the opioid fentanyl. (Dickey, 5/24)
Axios: What To Know About The Fentanyl Crisis
Addressing the fentanyl crisis has become a priority in an often-deadlocked federal government with the Biden administration calling on Congress to pass a bill aimed at tackling fentanyl trafficking in the U.S. The overdose death rate involving the synthetic opioid fentanyl in the U.S. nearly quadrupled between 2016 and 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (McBournie, 5/25)
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Hillary Clinton Talks Naloxone In Las Vegas
Robert Banghart’s life was saved by naloxone twice in one evening when he overdosed from heroin. Banghart, a 47-year-old Las Vegas resident, was living under a bridge at the time when he took his usual dose of heroin and overdosed. Luckily the people he was with had naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug that a recovery foundation had provided. After he woke up from the hospital, he left, only to overdose again hours later. (Hill, 5/24)
