Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Governors Press Federal Officials For More Money, Action To Combat Opioid Abuse
Connecticut Mirror: Governors Ask For Money, Share Strategies To Combat Opioid Crisis
The nation’s governors who have gathered here for an annual conference, are pressing the federal government for money to help them combat the epidemic of opioid abuse and heroin addiction that has resulted in a spike of overdoses and strained state public health systems. (Radelat, 2/22)
CQ Healthbeat: Governors Push Obama for Additional Action on Opioid Addiction
Governors from across the country from states battling the prescription drug abuse epidemic have come to Washington with a message for Congress and the federal government: We need more action to combat addiction. (Siddons and Miller, 2/22)
The Associated Press: County To Pilot State Changes To Drug Treatment Funding
Carroll County [Maryland] is poised to serve as a model for treating substance abuse across the state. The Carroll County Health Department plans to address changes to state funding of outpatient substance abuse services, officials told the Board of Commissioners at a briefing last week. (Norris, 2/22)
The Associated Press: The City May Allow Legal, Supervised Heroin Injections
The mayor of Ithaca wants his city in upstate New York to host the nation's first supervised injection facility, enabling heroin users to shoot illegal drugs into their bodies under the care of a nurse without getting arrested by police. Canada, Europe and Australia are working to reduce overdose deaths with these facilities, but in the United States, even the idea of creating a supervised injection site faces significant legal and political challenges. (2/22)
Los Angeles Times: Orange County Just Launched Its First Clean-Needle Exchange
A year ago, a group of UC Irvine medical students realized that Orange County was missing what they considered an important public health service that every major city in California had access to: a clean-needle exchange program. So they decided to do something about it. The students organized with partners across the region and submitted a plan to the California Department of Public Health. The agency rejected the plan last summer, noting a lack of community support and funding for a program. (Kandil, 2/23)
