Prison Hopes Drug That Creates ‘Force Field Around The Part Of Your Brain That Likes Heroin’ Will Help Inmates
Vivitrol is a monthly shot that acts like an opioid vaccine, and officials want to use it to break the pattern where those with an addiction are jailed, get clean, get released, then use again and end up back where they started. In other news: drug deaths are on the rise, New York creates a task force to address the crisis, chronic pain patients are at the other side of the national crackdown on opioids and more.
Marketplace:
Prisons Try To Curb Addiction With A Drug That Heroin-Proofs Your Brain
Heidi Karash has been working as a nurse in Erie, Pennsylvania, for nearly 13 years. And to her, opioid addiction isn’t just a crisis. It’s a weight to bear. “It's been an epidemic here in Erie,” she said. And Karash worries she played a role in that. In her first nursing job at Erie’s Hamot Hospital, she said she treated patients who had overdosed on painkillers. She also gave those very same opioids to people in pain. (Beras, 6/2)
The New York Times:
Drug Deaths In America Are Rising Faster Than Ever
Drug overdose deaths in 2016 most likely exceeded 59,000, the largest annual jump ever recorded in the United States, according to preliminary data compiled by The New York Times. The death count is the latest consequence of an escalating public health crisis: opioid addiction, now made more deadly by an influx of illicitly manufactured fentanyl and similar drugs. Our estimate of 62,500 deaths would be a 19 percent increase over the 52,404 recorded in 2015. (Katz, 6/5)
The Wall Street Journal:
From Opioids To Plastic Bags, Gov. Cuomo Turns To Panels For Help On Issues
Hate crimes, heroin and power plants pose disparate problems, but New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has responded with the same idea: Start a task force. Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, has increasingly relied on panels of mostly allies and appointees to navigate some of New York’s dilemmas and controversies. The governor’s office and some past panelists say the tactic allows Mr. Cuomo to delegate tricky issues to outside experts who can reach nonpartisan recommendations. And they point to panel ideas that became laws to indicate the panels were successful. (Vilensky, 6/4)
Chicago Tribune:
Chronic Pain Patients Say Opioid Crackdown Is Hurting Them
Americans' use of opioid painkillers has exploded since the mid-1990s, driven by changing philosophies on pain treatment, drug company marketing campaigns and unscrupulous "pill mill" operators. The result, many experts say, has been a surge in addiction, overdoses and death. Now, a reversal is underway. Opioid prescriptions have dropped sharply since 2012 as doctors have grown more conservative and the federal government has cracked down on what it deems "problematic prescribing." But some chronic pain patients say the turnabout has gone too far. (Keilman, 6/5)
Arizona Republic:
Opioid, Heroin Deaths Surge In Arizona
More than two Arizonans died every day on average from opioid overdoses in 2016, according to a new Arizona Department of Health Services report. A total of 790 Arizonans died from overdoses of opioid prescription medications and heroin last year, a 74 percent surge since 2012. And state health officials cautioned that last year's death toll might be higher because of a lag in reporting these deaths. (Alltucker, 6/2)
Detroit Free Press:
Street Drugs Change Way Officers In Michigan Make Stops
The spread of new synthetic street drugs — fentanyl and carfentanil — has law enforcement officers across Michigan changing the way they conduct routine stops, raids and seizures, with agencies taking heightened measures to safeguard officers and agents from accidental overdoses while fighting the state's growing opiate epidemic. There has been a number of recent instances nationwide of officers overdosing after encountering narcotics during investigations, including one recent scare in Kent County in western Michigan, when a detective was sickened while a "white powdery substance" was being tested. (Dudar, 6/4)
