Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
ER Room Treatments Spark Tension Over Responsibility For Opioid Misuse
Axios: Opioid Addiction Treatment In EDs Not A Guarantee
The overdose crisis is prompting more hospitals to initiate opioid addiction treatment in emergency rooms — a change welcomed by many behavioral health experts. Yes, but: It's resurfacing tension among providers over who's really responsible for addressing the underlying problem of opioid misuse. (Moreno and Dreher, 4/5)
The Washington Post: D.C. Vending Machines To Dispense Narcan, Fentanyl Test Strips
The opioid antidote Narcan, fentanyl test strips, coronavirus test kits and male and female condoms are among the items that soon will be available at six free vending machines throughout the District, with the aim of reducing drug overdoses. The District joins Las Vegas, Chicago, Cincinnati and Puerto Rico in deploying harm reduction vending machines to provide around-the-clock access to people who are homeless, vulnerable to opioid abuse or wary of contacting community services. In Europe, Denmark opened the first community-based harm reduction vending machines in 1987, followed by Norway. Today there are hundreds of such machines in at least seven countries on the continent. (Portnoy, 4/4)
USA Today: Overdose Deaths And Xylazine: Narcan Doesn't Work On Animal Tranq
Harm-reduction experts said it's important to carry naloxone because the vast majority of overdoses involve opioids such as illicit fentanyl or heroin. More than 107,000 people died from overdoses during the 12 months through August 2023, and two-thirds of those deaths involved synthetic opioids. Still, doctors warn naloxone doesn't work on xylazine, which is increasingly found in illicit fentanyl and heroin. (Alltucker, 4/4)
KHN: ‘Hard To Get Sober Young’: Inside One Of The Country’s Few Recovery High Schools
Every weekday at 5280 High School in Denver starts the same way. Students in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction gather on the steps of the school’s indoor auditorium to discuss a topic chosen by staff members. One recent morning, they talked about mental health and sobriety. A teenage boy dressed in tan corduroys, a black hoodie, and sneakers went first. “I didn’t want to have, like, any emotion,” he said. “So I thought, like, the best way to, like, put it down would be to do more and more and more drugs.” (Daniel, 4/5)
Also —
The Guardian: Mexican President Bemoans ‘Rude’ US Fentanyl Pressure In Plea To Xi Jinping
Mexico’s president has written to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, urging him to help control shipments of fentanyl, while also complaining of “rude” US pressure to curb the drug trade. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has previously said that fentanyl is the US’s problem and is caused by “a lack of hugs” in US families. On Tuesday he read out the letter to Xi dated 22 March in which he defended efforts to curb supply of the deadly drug, while rounding on US critics. (4/4)
