Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'This Isn't A Wave. It's A Tsunami': Opioid Epidemic Creating Flood Of Kids Into Foster System
The Associated Press: Opioid Crisis Strains Foster System As Kids Pried From Homes
The case arrives with all the routine of a traffic citation: A baby boy, just 4 days old and exposed to heroin in his mother's womb, is shuddering through withdrawal in intensive care, his fate now here in a shabby courthouse that hosts a parade of human misery. The parents nod off as Judge Marilyn Moores explains the legal process, and tests arrive back showing both continue to use heroin. The judge briefly chastises, a grandmother sobs, and by the time the hearing is over, yet another child is left in the arms of strangers because of his parents' addiction. (Sedensky and Hoyer, 12/12)
The Associated Press: Q&A: How Is The US Opioid Crisis Affecting Children?
Public attention to the historic wave of opioid addiction gripping the U.S. has focused mostly on its effect on adults and the thousands who have died of overdoses. Missed by much of the spotlight, though, is a hidden epidemic: children who have fallen victim to opioids' wrath because a parent's drug use has left them in danger and thrust them into the foster care system. (Sedensky, 12/12)
The Washington Post: DEA Official Says 2016 Law That Undermined Enforcement Should Be Changed
The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration office that regulates pharmaceutical opioids told senators Tuesday that a 2016 law has made enforcement more difficult in urgent circumstances and should be revised. Demetra Ashley, who leads the agency’s Diversion Control Division, said Congress should choose between repealing and amending the law. But she said the DEA agrees with the Justice Department that it should be altered to help curb the ongoing opioid epidemic. (Bernstein and Higham, 12/12)
The Hill: DEA, DOJ Back Changes To Law Linked To Opioid Crisis
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Department of Justice both support changing a controversial law that led to the withdrawal of President Trump's nominee to be the nation’s drug czar earlier this year. Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) asked that his nomination be withdrawn after 60 Minutes and The Washington Post in a joint report said a law he spearheaded through Congress had weakened the enforcement of the nation’s drug policing laws, perhaps contributing to the opioid crisis. (Roubein, 12/12)
And in other news on the epidemic —
Marketplace: S02-4: The Sentence That Helped Set Off The Opioid Crisis
When OxyContin went to market in 1996, sales reps from Purdue Pharma hit one point particularly hard: Compared to other prescription opioids, this new painkiller was believed to be less likely to be addictive or abused. But recently unsealed documents in this investigative episode shed light on how the maker of OxyContin seems to have relied more on focus groups than on scientific studies to create an aggressive and misleading marketing campaign that helped fuel the national opioid crisis. (Esch and Clark, 12/13)
The Associated Press: Officer Honored For Adopting Baby From Opioid Addicted Mom
A routine call about an Albuquerque convenience store theft turned into a life-transforming moment for an officer who came across upon a pregnant woman he found using heroin. That officer later volunteered to adopt the unborn baby. Officer Ryan Holets and his wife, Rebecca, were honored Monday for adopting the baby girl they named Hope after the addicted mom agreed to let the couple raise her child. The baby is now 6-weeks-old and is recovering after being born with an opioid addiction. (Contreras, 12/12)
The Associated Press: Hard-Hit By Opioids, A City Struggles With Hardcore Homeless
This is the lesson that the working-class city of Everett has learned: It takes a community to rescue the hardcore homeless.It takes teams of outreach workers — building relationships with men and women struggling with addiction or untreated mental illness, prodding them to get help. It takes police and other agencies, working together to provide for their needs. (Le, 12/13)
The Associated Press: West Virginia Nurse Admits To Illegally Distributing Drugs
A registered nurse has admitted to illegally distributing drugs used to treat opioid addiction through her job at a clinic in West Virginia’s northern panhandle from 2008 through 2016. Sharon E. Jackson of Wellsburg pleaded guilty Monday to one conspiracy charge in federal court, agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors and forfeit $253,000 described in court papers as her proceeds from the drug offense at an addiction treatment center, Advance Healthcare Inc., in Weirton. (12/12)
