Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Profit-Mining An Epidemic: Legal Loophole Allows Charlatans Operating Unregulated, Dangerous Sober Homes To Thrive
Boston Globe: Unwatched, A Sober Home Business Boomed. Then They Found The Bones
Sober homes are in the business of housing some of society’s most fragile people as they navigate the delicate stages of early recovery. But no one is watching. Anyone can open a sober home — just hang a sign on your door and start collecting rent. In this regulatory void, Cleggett and countless others have set up shop. Protected from prying eyes, Cleggett has opened one home in which, Boston officials say, clients are crammed into overcrowded, unsafe rooms, and another where clients say they were told by staff without medical licenses to stop taking psychiatric medications and, instead, to pray. Two people under his company’s watch have died. “It’s a legal loophole that costs lives,” said Quincy City Councilor Brian Palmucci, who wrote an ordinance attempting to require sober homes in Quincy to register with the city after receiving complaints about homes in his district. “We have these charlatans who are taking advantage of the opioid crisis to get rich.” (Allen, 8/3)
Stat: Purdue Pharma Seeks To Minimize Its Role In Opioid Crisis As It Urges Dismissal Of Massachusetts Suit
OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma on Friday sought to minimize its role both in the opioid addiction crisis and as a player in the painkiller industry as it asked a Massachusetts judge to dismiss a lawsuit from the state. The state alleges the company’s deceptive marketing of its drugs spawned the opioid epidemic in Massachusetts, but a lawyer for the company pushed back against that claim. (Joseph, 8/2)
Bloomberg: Opioid Patient Worth $200,000 A Year To Purdue, State Says
Massachusetts took Purdue Pharma LP to task in a Boston courtroom Friday, blaming the opioid maker and the billionaire Sackler family that owns it for causing “thousands of people to suffer and many to die.” The state has proof Purdue targeted doctors to prescribe large volumes of high-dose pills to their patients, Assistant Attorney General Sydenham Alexander III told the court. (Lawrence, 8/2)
The Washington Post: An Epic Legal Battle Brought ARCOS Opioid Data To Light
ARCOS was a secret database. The powerful interests who knew all about it — the drug industry and the federal government, specifically — wanted to maintain that secrecy. ARCOS, for Automation of Reports and Consolidated Orders System, was established by the Drug Enforcement Administration to track the manufacture and distribution of prescription drugs, including billions of opioid painkillers that have sparked a deadly epidemic. (Achenbach, 8/2)
The CT Mirror: Prescription Opioids Targeted CT’s Most Vulnerable Citizens
The prescription opioid tsunami struck hardest in working-class communities in the Appalachian Mountains regions of West Virginia and Kentucky. But it also has taken a toll in Connecticut. Between 2012 and 2018, 5,175 people died of accidental drug overdoses here. (Hamm, 8/4)
MPR: Data: Nearly 1 Billion Pain Pills Flooded Minnesota During Height Of Opioid Crisis
At the height of the opioid epidemic, enough prescription painkillers were distributed to Minnesota pharmacies for every state resident to have 156 pills, according to new government data made available by the Washington Post. The 842 million pills distributed between 2006 and 2012 came as hundreds of Minnesotans died of opioid overdoses. (Collins, 8/5)
Columbus Dispatch: Ohio's First School For Teens Recovering From Addictions Opens In Columbus
This summer, Heartland High School, Ohio’s first recovery school for teens overcoming addiction or substance abuse, finally opened its doors to students after three years of planning. The private school hosted two weeks of summer programming in July for a handful of students, including Alyssa, and will hold two more weeks in August, starting Monday. (Neese, 8/4)
