Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
FDA Ramps Up Efforts To Stop Flood Of Synthetic Opioids Coming Into U.S. Through Postal Service
The Washington Post: FDA To Step Up Targeting Of Fentanyl, Other Synthetic Opioids At Postal Facilities
The Food and Drug Administration is strengthening efforts to detect opioids illegally entering the country through the mail, reflecting heightened concerns about the flood of synthetic fentanyl and similar drugs being shipped from China and elsewhere. Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, in internal remarks to a group of senior managers Thursday, said he was deploying about three dozen employees to international mail facilities run by the U.S. Postal Service to help detect and analyze suspicious packages, as well as to the FDA’s cybercrime and forensic-chemistry units. (McGinley, 8/4)
The Washington Post: Maryland Fentanyl Deaths Surge Again In First Quarter Of 2017
The number of Maryland deaths related to fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, surged in the first quarter of 2017, more than doubling from the first quarter of 2016, and making up the majority of drug-related overdose deaths in the state. Maryland’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported Friday that fentanyl-overdose fatalities jumped to 372 from January through March, up from 157 during the same period in 2016. Fentanyl and a related additive, carfentanil, which are increasingly common nationwide, can be 50 or 100 times more powerful than heroin. (Chason, 8/5)
The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Overdose Deaths Continued To Soar In The First Part Of The Year
There were 550 overdose deaths, including 372 from fentanyl, a cheap and powerful drug coming into the U.S. from overseas that mixed in with heroin, typically without people knowing, according to data released Friday by the Maryland Department of Health. The number of deaths from fentanyl soared 137 percent from 157 deaths during the same period last year. The numbers were not surprising to public health officials who said they only expect the problem to get worse. (McDaniels, 8/4)
And in other news on the epidemic —
The Philadelphia Inquirer: After Cancer, Opioid Use Can Be A Lingering Side-Effect
Sandwiched between multiple reports and alarms about opioids being overprescribed and abused comes this: People who have survived cancer may get even more pain pills than the rest of the population. In this case, however, there may be good reasons. Although most people are well-aware that cancer can return years after it has been treated, oncologists say that there is an oversimplified belief that the disease, once banished from the body, has few lingering effects. (Sapatkin, 8/7)
New Hampshire Union Leader: New Drug Treatment Program At Valley Street Jail Gets Underway
Members of the first group of eligible inmates to enroll in the new Substance Abuse Treatment Community for Offenders (SATCO) program at the Valley Street jail are scheduled to move into the second phase of their treatment later this week. Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners Chairman Toni Pappas said over the weekend the new SATCO program — in development for over a year and a half — launched June 12 at the Hillsborough County Department of Corrections with 20 participants: 12 in the female program, and eight in the male program. (Feely, 8/6)
San Francisco Chronicle: Lack Of ID Hinders Therapy For Homeless Heroin Addicts
As the nation’s heroin and painkiller epidemic rages, small but vulnerable populations of homeless people are sometimes turned away from the nation’s already-threadbare system of drug treatment centers because they do not have valid photo identification. Transient lifestyles are not conducive to keeping the identifying documents that are often necessary during the screening processes for drug treatment facilities (Izaguirre, 8/6)
