Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Laws Block Nurses From Administering Anti-Addiction Medication
Stateline: Nurse Licensing Laws Block Treatment For Opioid Addiction
Confronting an opioid overdose epidemic that is killing at least 90 people every day, two federal agencies this month gave more than 700 nurse practitioners and physician assistants the authority to write prescriptions for the anti-addiction medication buprenorphine. ... Tens of thousands more nurse practitioners and physician assistants could be helping, too, by applying for a federal license to prescribe the potentially life-saving medicine. But laws in more than half the states are likely to prevent nurses from using their licenses in rural areas that need it most. (Vestal, 4/21)
The Associated Press: Attorneys General To Trump: Don't Cut Drug Treatment Funds
The top government lawyers from 19 states are telling President Donald Trump and the Republican leaders of Congress not to pass health insurance changes that would stop the flow of federal drug treatment money. A letter sent Friday by a group of attorneys general for 19 states plus Washington D.C., is the latest in a series of actions from Democrats who hold those offices to oppose Trump's policies and actions. (Mulvihill, 4/21)
And in the states —
The Associated Press: Opioid And Heroin Overdoses Reach ‘Crisis Level’ In Maryland
When Carin Miller’s son was about 19 years old, he began to abuse heroin by snorting pills, eventually moving on to shooting up. This went on for six years before he got help. Lucas Miller’s history of drug use started in high school with smoking marijuana. When he moved out of his parents’ house, one of his housemates had access to between 750 to 1,500 pills at any given time between five houses located in Frederick, Maryland. “My son was addicted to heroin, he’s in recovery by the grace of God since Thanksgiving 2014, I think that’s where we are at,” Miller said. (Nocera, 4/21)
Minnesota Public Radio: Opioids Killed 35 Minnesotans In April 2016. Only 1 Was Named Prince
The world knows Prince, who died a year ago Friday of a fentanyl overdose. Hundreds of other Minnesotans who've died during the years-long epidemic of heroin and other opioids remain largely unknown to anyone beyond those who loved them. Their names and causes of death are recorded in the Minnesota Health Department's database of the dead. (Sepic, 4/24)
The Star Tribune: Minn. Hospital Finds Success In Opioid Fight With Focus On Mothers
Sanford’s medication-assisted therapy clinic in Bemidji prescribes buprenorphine to eliminate opioid cravings for women while they are pregnant, which also reduces the chances of premature births. The treatment itself leaves newborns prone to withdrawal symptoms after birth, so it is somewhat controversial, but mothers often cannot overcome opioid addiction without it, said Dr. Joe Corser, who directs the clinic. (Olson, 4/22)
Columbus Dispatch: Fentanyl, A Ruthless, Indiscriminate Killer, Taking A Big Toll In Ohio
Many Ohioans know the powerful painkiller fentanyl as a cold-blooded killer that preys indiscriminately on addicts: rich and poor, urban and rural, male and female. And most of them never knew what killed them. (Johnson and Candisky, 4/23)
NPR: 'Send Me A Friend': Anders Osborne Starts Program To Help Fellow Musicians Stay Sober
Recovering alcoholics tend to avoid the bar. But when the bar is your office, that's not so easy. New Orleans bluesman Anders Osborne figured out how to get back to work despite the temptations, and now he's trying to help others. (Elliott, 4/22)
