With Hundreds Dying Each Week, A Panel To Study Opioid Crisis Is Just Waste Of Time, Experts Say
President Donald Trump's special commission will hold its first meeting Friday, but experts say it's not necessary. “What we need is an enormous federal investment in expanding access to addiction treatment, and for the different federal agencies that have a piece of this problem to be working in a coordinated fashion," said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, of Brandeis University.
The New York Times:
As Opioid Panel Meets, Some Say Action, Not Study, Is Needed
Weeks before the presidential election, at a packed rally in New Hampshire, Donald J. Trump recounted the story of a young woman and her boyfriend who had fatally overdosed within a year of each other. He promised not just a border wall to keep drugs out, but also more access to treatment. “We’re going to take care of it,” he said of the opioid addiction epidemic, which has disproportionately hit states that were crucial to his election victory. “What’s taking so long?” (Goodnough, 6/16)
Boston Globe:
Charlie Baker To Attend Opioid Panel Meeting In DC
Governor Charlie Baker will travel to Washington on Friday for the inaugural meeting of President Trump’s commission on drug addiction and the opioid crisis, aides said Thursday... The commission meeting, scheduled for two hours in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, according to a White House agenda, will serve largely as an introductory session. (O'Sullivan, 6/15)
In other news about the epidemic —
The Associated Press:
Overcoming Opioids: Easing An Epidemic 1 Doctor At A Time
Even doctors can be addicted to opioids, in a way: It’s hard to stop prescribing them. Melissa Jones is on a mission to break doctors of their habit, and in the process try to turn the tide of the painkiller epidemic that has engulfed 2 million Americans. (Johnson, 6/15)
Boston Globe:
Influential Word-Usage Guide Changes The Language Of Addiction
The Associated Press Stylebook, a word-choice and grammar bible for journalists, recommended May 31 that journalists use “addiction” instead of “substance abuse,” and “person with addiction” instead of “addict” or “abuser,” among other changes expected to influence writers, editors, and students around the globe. ... The words chosen to describe addiction, according to advocates, affect how the people who suffer from it see themselves, and how others see them. (Freyer, 6/15)
CQ Magazine:
Odd Bedfellows Assail Opioid Marketing
Katherine M. Clark, a Democrat in her second full term representing a suburban Boston House district, is getting good at forging ties with Kentucky Republicans in her efforts to combat the opioid epidemic. After teaming with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell last year on a new law to combat opioid addiction among infants, she last month joined Kentucky GOP Rep. Harold Rogers in organizing a letter to Margaret Chan, director-general of the United Nations’ World Health Organization, to make the case that opioid marketing qualifies as a global health emergency. (Zeller, 6/19)
The Newnan Times-Herald:
GBI Has Identified Pills Linked To Mid-Georgia Overdoses
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Tuesday evening that the pills have been found to contain cyclopropyl fentanyl and U-47700. Cyclopropyl fentanyl is a fentanyl analogue, chemical similar to fentanyl. (Campbell, 6/15)
Texas Tribune:
Amid Opioid Epidemic, Texas Joins Multistate Investigation Into Drugmakers' Role
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has joined a group of state attorneys general who are investigating the marketing and sales of prescription painkillers, as they work to determine whether drugmakers have broken any laws amid a nationwide epidemic of opioid addiction. Paxton and his counterparts are tapping a variety of legal tools — including issuing subpoenas for documents and testimony — to pull back the curtain on the role of opioid manufacturers in creating or prolonging the epidemic, the Republican announced Thursday. (Malewitz, 6/15)
Minnesota Public Radio:
Minn. AG Joins Probe Of Drug Makers' Role In Opioid Crisis
Minnesota has joined a national investigation of drug makers to determine their role in the opioid epidemic. Attorney General Lori Swanson announced Thursday that she's part of a bi-partisan group of state attorneys general investigating pharmaceutical companies. (Sapong, 6/15)
