Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
In Snapshot Of How Bad Opioid Crisis Has Become, Counselors Overseeing Halfway House Die Of Overdoses
The Washington Post: Residents Of Halfway House Found Two Men Dead From Overdoses — Their Drug Counselors
The man's losing battle with heroin was laid out right there on the nightstand of the halfway house. There were three morning devotionals, including “God Calling,” geared toward keeping a person's thoughts pointed heavenward. Then there was the nicotine: two packs of cigarettes, a vaporizer and a case of snus to quell cravings. And near the edge: empty packets of heroin, a spoon and a syringe half full of the last hit the man would ever inject. (Wootson, 5/24)
Meanwhile, in Tennessee —
Nashville Tennessean: State Data Confirms Overdose Deaths Are Primarily White Opioid Users
A new report from the Tennessee Department of Health on drug overdose deaths sheds new light on the opioid epidemic plaguing the state, darkening the lines of an emerging portrait of the typical abuser killed by the powerful painkillers. The drug overdose fatalities are overwhelmingly white, mostly male and increasingly less likely to have prescriptions for the drugs that kill them. And, across Tennessee, those killed are more likely to overdose on opioids — including heroin and fentanyl — than on any other kind of drug. (Fletcher, Nelson and Wadhwani, 5/24)
