Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Fentanyl Displacing Heroin In DC, Causing Heroin Overdoses To Fall
The Washington Post: D.C. Heroin Overdoses Plunge As Fentanyl Use Soars
For decades, it brought fleeting euphoria and permanent loss. It was the basis of commerce in neighborhoods that had lost their foothold in America’s economy and a poison that destroyed those same neighborhoods block by block. It was an addictive salve for the lives it had broken. Now heroin, synonymous with illicit drug use in Mid-Atlantic cities since the 1960s, is close to vanishing from the streets of the nation’s capital. (Jamison, 9/8)
AP: Free Narcan, Drug Test Strips Distributed Throughout W.Va
Volunteers and public health workers set up shop in parks, churches, post offices and community centers Thursday for the largest event for overdose reversal drug training and distribution in West Virginia’s history. It was the third time the state, which has seen the most opioid overdose deaths per capita out of any other in the U.S., hosted a “Save a Life Day” event. But it was the first time the effort has reached all 55 counties. (Willingham, 9/8)
AL.com: ‘Fentanyl Is In Everything’: After Alabama 15-Year-Old’s Overdose Death, Authorities Target Deadly Opioid
Mobile County Sheriff Sam Cochran said his agency is prioritizing investigations involving the drug fentanyl amid an increase in overdoses and following the death last week of a 15-year-old girl in Semmes. Cochran also said it is likely that Adrianna Taylor, a student at Mary G. Montgomery High School, and her 17-year-old boyfriend were “unaware” they were ingesting fentanyl – a synthetic opioid that is more powerful than morphine – last Wednesday before she died. (Sharp, 9/8)
On opioid settlements —
Reuters: Insurer Off Hook For Opioid Lawsuits Against Drug Distributor – Ohio Top Court
Mutual insurance company Acuity does not have to cover a former drug distribution company’s legal costs in 22 lawsuits by cities and counties that have been hard-hit by the opioid epidemic, the Ohio Supreme Court has held. Reversing an appellate court’s ruling, the top court held that Acuity had no duty to defend Masters Pharmaceutical Inc because the local jurisdictions were suing for their own economic losses, not for “damages because of bodily injury” as defined in Acuity’s insurance policies for the company between 2010 and 2018. (Grzincic, 9/8)
AP: Wisconsin Lawmakers Approve Opioid Settlement Spending Plan
The Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee prioritized funding for Narcan, a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, fentanyl testing strips, new treatment facilities and prevention programs, grants for law enforcement, improving data collection and helping tribes fight the opioid crisis. (Venhuizen, 9/8)
(Chicago) Daily Herald: Spend Opioid Lawsuit Settlement On Programs To Help Kids, State's Attorneys Say
When Illinois starts spending the $760 million it is getting from the nationwide settlement of lawsuits against prescription opioid distributors and a manufacturer, some of that money should be spent helping the youngest victims of the opioid crisis -- babies and toddlers -- some top prosecutors around the state say. "Tragically, children have been hit especially hard by the opioid epidemic," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said Wednesday at a news conference held by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, Illinois chapter. (Keeshan and Sarkauskas, 9/9)
