Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Potent, Cheap And Lethal: As Fentanyl Death Toll Climbs, CDC Offers Guidance To Help Curb Epidemic
Stateline: As Fentanyl Deaths Spike, States And CDC Respond
When Ohio tallied what many already knew was an alarming surge in overdose deaths from an opioid known as fentanyl, the state asked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate. The rash of fatal overdoses in Ohio — a more than fivefold increase in 2014 — was not an isolated outbreak. Fentanyl is killing more people than heroin in many parts of the country. And the death toll will likely keep growing, said CDC investigators Matt Gladden and John Halpin at the fifth annual Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit [in Atlanta]. (Vestal, 4/1)
In other substance abuse news —
Modern Healthcare: Weaning Pregnant Women Off Addictive Drugs Not Harmful To Fetus, Study Says
Dr. Craig Towers says he's asked all the time by his pregnant patients who are addicted to opioids whether he can help them get completely off drugs so their baby doesn't suffer agonizing drug withdrawal symptoms after birth. ... Like nearly all doctors across the country, Towers previously would tell patients no, because detoxification would risk premature labor or even fetal death. Instead, he recommended that they receive medication-assisted drug maintenance therapy with methodone or buprenorphine through pregnancy. ... Challenged by his patients' insistent requests, however, Towers dug into the research literature and found several obscure studies suggesting that detox during pregnancy is not harmful. (Meyer, 3/31)
Kaiser Health News: The Wait For Opioid Treatment Can Mean Life Or Death In New Hampshire
For years, Eileen Shea says her former partner Eddie Sawyer struggled with a heroin addiction. But after losing his job and time with his daughter, he was ready to get help. He was on the waiting list for a bed at the Friendship House, northern New Hampshire’s only residential treatment facility. He never made it to treatment. Instead, Sawyer was one of 428 people in New Hampshire who died last year from a drug overdose. When the police found him in his apartment, there was list of rehab facilities on the table next to his bed. It was a list Shea had given to him a month earlier, and there were check marks next to the name of each one. Sawyer had called every place on the list. (Gotbaum, 4/1)
