Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
From KFF Health News - Latest Stories:
KFF Health News Original Stories
Tribal Groups Assert Sovereignty as Feds Crack Down on Gender-Affirming Care
Native American groups declare that tribal sovereignty trumps state and federal efforts to restrict or ban gender-affirming care for two-spirit and LGBTQ+ tribal citizens. Tribes are analyzing the risk of opposing Trump’s policies, advocates say.
Immigrant Kids Detained in ‘Unsafe and Unsanitary’ Sites as Trump Team Seeks To End Protections
President Donald Trump’s Justice Department seeks to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement, which since 1997 has required U.S. immigration officials to hold migrant children in facilities that are safe and sanitary, among other protections. Even with the consent decree in place, court records show unsafe conditions for immigrant kids.
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Here's today's health policy haiku:
SEEING RED OVER 'CHOICE'
My body, my choice.
— Erin Young
That's what vaccine skeptics say.
But abortion? No.
If you have a health policy haiku to share, please Contact Us and let us know if we can include your name. Haikus follow the format of 5-7-5 syllables. We give extra brownie points if you link back to an original story.
Opinions expressed in haikus and cartoons are solely the author's and do not reflect the opinions of KFF Health News or KFF.
Summaries Of The News:
Administration News
Monarez Confirmed As CDC Director
CBS News: Senate Confirms Susan Monarez As CDC Director. Here's What She's Said About Vaccines, Fluoride And More
The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday along party lines, 51 to 47, to confirm Susan Monarez as the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Monarez has been serving as the acting head of the CDC since January, and previously worked as the head of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. She was viewed as somewhat surprising pick for the CDC role because unlike most recent CDC directors, she holds a Ph.D. but is not a medical doctor. ... "If I'm confirmed as CDC director, I look forward to supporting the secretary with science and evidence, and making sure that I am giving him the best information possible," Monarez said at her confirmation hearing. (Moniuszko, 7/29)
On preventive services and vaccines —
Stat: RFK Jr. Could Remake Preventive Services Task Force 'Imminently'
Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could “imminently” overhaul a key federal advisory panel that recommends which preventive services insurers must pay for, according to a person familiar with the plans. (Cirruzzo, 7/29)
NPR: Senators Introduce Resolution Supporting U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
Two senators introduced a resolution Tuesday evening to preserve the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, following reports that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may soon fire its current members. Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine and Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sponsored the resolution. (Huang, 7/29)
The Hill: Senate Democrats Probe Robert F. Kennedy Jr's Vaccine Panel Changes
Democrats on the Senate Health Committee launched an investigation on Tuesday into Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s firing of all members of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine advisory panel. Led by ranking member Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who caucuses with Democrats, the lawmakers asked for detailed information about why Kennedy dismissed members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), who else was involved in the process, and how the new members were identified and vetted. (Weixel, 7/29)
On changes at the NIH —
The Washington Post: The New NIH Director Says He Wants To Avoid Politics
“I’m not a politician,” the new director of the National Institutes of Health, Jay Bhattacharya, insists. “I’m not going to get involved in the political fight over things.” But the great challenge facing the former Stanford University doctor and economist as he guides the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research is the fear for many that science and American politics have become intertwined as perhaps never before. (Johnson, 7/29)
Stat: He Was Censored At NIH. Now Kevin Hall Is Speaking Out
Kevin Hall can speak freely now. The leading U.S. authority on the science of ultra-processed foods made headlines this spring when he accused the Trump administration of censoring his work and opted to retire from his position at the National Institutes of Health. Without interference from D.C. to worry about, and with a forthcoming book, “Food Intelligence,” to promote, Hall is ready to speak candidly about his experiences with the leaders of the Make America Healthy Again movement. (Todd, 7/30)
Bethesda Magazine: A Rockville Woman With Developmental Disabilities Was Laid Off From NIH After 30 Years. What’s Next For Her Is Uncertain.
When Andrea Geller got a job working in the mailroom at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda at age 21, she was ecstatic. For 31 years, the federal agency was her happy place. “I loved the mailroom, and I loved making friends and getting to talk to them every day,” Geller, 52, told Bethesda Today in a recent interview at her apartment in Rockville. But in April, she was one of thousands of NIH employees laid off by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency. Geller has intellectual and developmental disabilities and is part of a program for disabled adults that allows her to enjoy some independence in apartment living while receiving assistance from counselors and medical professionals. (Bixby, 7/29)
On health data and the restoration of government websites —
Politico: The Trump Administration Wants To 'Kill The Clipboard'
Roughly 60 entities in the health care sector will pledge to making patient data more accessible and speeding its delivery among patients, clinicians and payers, according to an HHS employee granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive plans. The White House and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are expected to announce the commitments on Wednesday, Ruth reported last week. The agency hopes the commitments will stoke companies to make it easier for patients to import their data into an app of their choice, where they can manage their day-to-day health and easily share their history with doctors. (Reader and Paun, 7/29)
Medscape: Judge: Trump Must Restore Missing Health Websites and Data
The Trump administration has begun restoring health-related websites and datasets that it removed in January in order to comply with an order from a federal judge, who said that agencies such as the CDC unlawfully deleted treatment guidelines and other critical data that impaired doctors’ ability to care for patients. Federal agencies report that they now have restored 67 of the 212 webpages that plaintiffs included in their list, according to a court document filed on July 18. Those sites include pages about adolescent and school health, endometriosis, and health disparities among LGBTQ youth. (Szabo, 7/29)
On cuts to Medicaid and SNAP —
The Hill: States Sue HHS Over Trump Law Defunding Planned Parenthood
More than 20 states filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Department of Health and Human Services, challenging a provision in President Trump’s enormous tax and spending package that bars certain health care nonprofits from receiving Medicaid reimbursements. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA) includes a provision that bars health care nonprofits that provide abortions and received more than $800,000 in federal funding in 2023 from being able to get Medicaid reimbursements for one year. (O’Connell-Domenech, 7/29)
Stat: Budget Cuts Knock Down A ‘Pillar Of Public Health,’ Ending Nutrition Education
Sixteen children tumbled into nutritionist Kelsey Davis’s cooking class on a hot July morning, some hugging their counselors, some high-fiving the other 9- and 10-year-olds. Full of energy and opinions, they took their seats in the YMCA classroom in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood, ready for another lesson. (Cooney, 7/30)
KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute'
July 24: Sam Whitehead read the week’s news: Affordable Care Act health plan will likely be more expensive next year, and work requirements for Medicaid recipients can be expensive and hard to navigate for enrollees. July 17: Sam Whitehead reads the week’s news: President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown is threatening nursing home staff, and the country’s largest health insurers say they’ll simplify the process they use to decide whether to pay for doctor-ordered care. (Cook, 7/29)
Prasad Resigns From Top FDA Post Amid Fallout Over Sarepta Dispute
The New York Times: Top F.D.A. Official Vinay Prasad Resigns Under Pressure
The Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine and gene therapy official resigned on Tuesday after a public campaign against him led by the right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, according to people familiar with the matter. Over the past week, Ms. Loomer had taken to social media to attack the official, Dr. Vinay Prasad, for a series of decisions denying approval of new drugs for rare diseases. She highlighted past statements of support he had made for prominent figures on the political left, including Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont. Andrew Nixon, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesman, confirmed the resignation Tuesday evening. (Jewett, 7/29)
The Washington Post: FDA Pushes To Restrict Synthetic Opioid Derived From Kratom Lea
Health officials announced they will seek to add 7-OH — a potent substance synthesized from a compound in the kratom leaf — to the tier of controlled substances reserved for the most addictive drugs, such as heroin and LSD. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said at a news conference that the agency is not asking to restrict natural products made from kratom, which contains trace amount of the compound. In a report released Tuesday, the agency said it maintains concerns about kratom broadly but needed to act urgently on 7-OH because of its risk of sedation, nausea, breathing problems and addiction. “We think it’s night and day in terms of the public health risk,” Makary said of 7-OH products. (Ovalle and Cunningham, 7/29)
On the federal crackdown of gender-affirming care —
The Hill: FTC Eyes Probe Into Deceptive Practices Related To Gender-Affirming Care
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday launched a public inquiry into whether providers of gender-affirming health care are violating federal consumer protection laws. In a news release, the FTC said it opened the inquiry “to better understand how consumers may have been exposed to false or unsupported claims about ‘gender-affirming care’, especially as it relates to minors, and to gauge the harms consumers may be experiencing.” (Migdon, 7/29)
KFF Health News: Tribal Groups Assert Sovereignty As Feds Crack Down On Gender-Affirming Care
At the Two Spirit Conference in northern Nevada in June, Native Americans gathered in support of the LGBTQ+ community amid federal and state rollbacks of transgender protections and gender-affirming health care. “I want people to not kill themselves for who they are,” said organizer Myk Mendez, a trans and two-spirit citizen of the Fort Hall Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in Idaho. “I want people to love their lives and grow old to tell their stories.” “Two-spirit” is used by Native Americans to describe a distinct gender outside of male or female. (Orozco Rodriguez, 7/30)
On climate and health —
CNN: EPA Proposes Revoking Pollution Limits Based In Part On Document Authored By 5 Climate Contrarians
In one of its most significant reversals on climate policy to-date, the Trump administration on Tuesday proposed to repeal a 2009 scientific finding that human-caused climate change endangers human health and safety, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced. If successful, the repeal could strip away the federal government’s most powerful way to control the country’s planet-warming pollution and fight climate change. The repeal was based in part on a hastily produced report — authored by five researchers who have spent years sowing doubt in the scientific consensus around climate change — that questions the severity of the impacts of climate change. (Nilsen and Freedman, 7/29)
Scientific American: Hurricane Forecasters Keep Crucial Satellite Data Online After Threatened Cuts
Satellite data that are useful for weather forecasting—and particularly crucial to monitoring hurricanes—will not be cut off by the Department of Defense at the end of the month as originally planned. The data, which provide an x-ray-like view of a hurricane’s internal structure, will remain accessible to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for the satellites’ lifespans, a NOAA spokesperson confirmed in an e-mail to Scientific American. These data are particularly useful for monitoring storms at night, when visible satellite imagery is unavailable, and for catching rapid intensification—when a storm’s winds jump by at least 35 miles per hour in 24 hours. The faster forecasters note a storm is quickly ramping up in intensity, the faster they can warn people in harm’s way. (Thompson, 7/29)
On the immigration crisis —
KFF Health News: Immigrant Kids Detained In ‘Unsafe And Unsanitary’ Sites As Trump Team Seeks To End Protections
A child developed a rash after he was prevented from changing his underwear for four days. A little boy, bored and overcome with despair, began hitting himself in the head. A child with autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder was forced to go without his medication, despite his mother’s pleas. “I heard one officer say about us ‘they smell like sh–,’” one detained person recounted in a federal court filing. “And another officer responded, ‘They are sh–.’” (West, 7/30)
Health Industry
UnitedHealthcare To Leave Some Medicare Advantage Markets
Fierce Healthcare: UnitedHealthcare To Exit Certain Medicare Advantage Markets As Costs Balloon, Impacting 600K Enrollees
It has decided to exit certain markets largely with plans that are more loosely designed, such as PPOs, in a move that will impact 600,000 beneficiaries. (Minemyer, 7/29)
Bloomberg: UnitedHealth Slumps As New Outlook Disappoints Yet Again
UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s bad year is getting even worse. The health-care conglomerate offered fresh profit guidance that was far below its early projections and below all analyst expectations. Executives also declined to explicitly affirm a long-term growth outlook that the company has pointed investors to for years, a sign that its challenges aren’t going away any time soon. The key problem facing UnitedHealth is it didn’t anticipate Americans would use medical care at the rate they did when setting premiums last year. (Tozzi, 7/29)
The Baltimore Sun: UnitedHealthcare, Johns Hopkins Medicine At Odds Over Health Insurance Contract
Doctors at Johns Hopkins Medicine hospitals and facilities could stop accepting insurance from national health insurance provider UnitedHealthcare in about a month if an agreement to maintain the health plan is not reached. Just under 60,000 patients on UnitedHealthcare plans see Hopkins providers in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. (Mirabella, 7/29)
In other health industry developments —
Modern Healthcare: Humana Buyouts Offered To Some Employees Near Retirement
Humana is offering certain employees voluntary early retirement buyouts. Employees age 50 or older with at least three years of service are eligible for the program, although those working in certain business-critical areas will be ineligible, a company spokesperson said Tuesday. He said the window to apply for voluntary early retirement will be open for several weeks. The Louisville, Kentucky-based health insurer said the offers are part of ongoing evaluations Humana conducts to adjust staffing and drive organizational efficiency. (Eastabrook, 7/29)
Bloomberg: Novo Nordisk Picks Insider As CEO After Selloff From Wegovy Slump
Novo Nordisk A/S named its head of international operations as chief executive officer after slumping weight-loss drug sales led to a profit warning that wiped $93 billion off its market value. The Danish drugmaker promoted Maziar Mike Doustdar, who has spent more than three decades with the company, to the top spot. The surprise choice disappointed investors who were hoping for a high-profile outsider to lead a fresh challenge to Eli Lilly & Co., which has been pulling ahead of Novo in the obesity market. (Kresge, 7/29)
Bloomberg: P&G Open To Acquisitions In Consumer Health Care, CEO Says
Procter & Gamble Co. said it’s open to an acquisition in the consumer health care category, citing its successful purchase of a Merck business unit in 2018. “There are a couple of categories that we currently compete in where we might be interested in acquisitions if they offer an opportunity to significantly improve the growth rate and margin structure,” P&G Chief Executive Officer Jon Moeller told analysts during an earnings call on Tuesday. (Neumann, 7/29)
Modern Healthcare: Sword Health Launches AI Program To Streamline Admin Tasks
Sword Health, a virtual care and artificial intelligence company, has launched an AI program aimed at streamlining administrative tasks. Sword Intelligence offers several AI-powered tools designed to ease operational challenges in healthcare, including insurance enrollment, patient triage, coverage eligibility and outreach to high-risk members, the company said in a news release Tuesday. (DeSilva, 7/29)
Modern Healthcare: J-1 Visa Restrictions Push Phoenix Children's To Recruit Earlier
Health systems expect recruiting overseas clinicians and technicians to take longer and cost more over the next year as the federal government restricts immigration. President Donald Trump’s administration temporarily paused visa processing, increased visa information requests and banned travel from certain countries. These changes are expected to further bog down an already backlogged system, potentially reduce access to care and inflate administrative costs, hospital executives, lawyers and policy experts said. (Kacik, 7/29)
MedPage Today: Direct Primary Care Will Become Much More Popular Thanks To New Law, Experts Predict
A new provision related to direct primary care (DPC) in the recently enacted reconciliation bill will create more opportunities for physicians in small towns to open independent practices, Jeff Davenport, MD, of Edmonton, Oklahoma, said Tuesday. "What an opportunity for small-town America to have a doctor be able to practice in a model like this and have more expanded opportunities," Davenport said at an event sponsored by the American Academy of Family Physicians. (Frieden, 7/29)
Medicare
Report: Many Hospitals Fail To Identify 'Harm Events' For Medicare Patients
Modern Healthcare: Medicare Patients Experiencing Harm Events Go Unreported: OIG
Hospitals are falling short of federal and state harm reporting requirements, according to a report federal investigators published Tuesday. Nearly half of hospitals surveyed failed to identify “harm events” among hospitalized Medicare patients in October 2018, according to the Health and Human Services Department Office of Inspector General. Even fewer of those occurrences were investigated, the OIG found. (Early, 7/29)
Stat: AI 'Breakthrough' Devices May Get Automatic Medicare Coverage
Medical device lobbyists and lawmakers have united in recent months over legislation that would make it easier to bill Medicare for artificial intelligence-based devices used in health care. They want to grease the squeaky wheels of reimbursement for “algorithm-based health services,” many of which have seen limited adoption despite getting cleared by the Food and Drug Administration. (Palmer, 7/30)
Modern Healthcare: 5 Medicare Pay Rules Are Expected By Friday. Here's What To Know
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is set to reveal fiscal 2026 Medicare reimbursements for inpatient providers within days. Final rules detailing payment rates and new policies for inpatient hospitals, inpatient psychiatric hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, hospice providers and inpatient rehabilitation facilities are expected to be published as soon as Friday. (Early, 7/29)
Newsweek: What The Future Of Medicaid And Medicare Could Look Like
On this day 60 years ago, the Medicaid and Medicare programs were signed into law by former President Lyndon B. Johnson. It was July 30, 1965, and both programs were established within the Social Security Act. In light of the programs' landmark anniversary, Newsweek has spoken to experts about what is in store for the programs in the coming years during the term of President Donald Trump. (Laws, 7/30)
State Watch
Family Tried To Get Help For Walmart Stabbing Suspect, Brother Says
Bridge Michigan: Brother: Walmart Attack Suspect A Danger For Years, ‘Fell Through Cracks Every Time’
The family of a homeless man with mental issues accused of stabbing 11 people at a Walmart near Traverse City on Saturday say they’ve begged authorities to institutionalize him for decades. The man’s brother, Shane Gille, said he yelled at law enforcement officers who arrived at his Pellston home on Sunday to tell him his brother was in custody. “I laid into them,” Gille told Bridge Michigan. “We've been throwing flags for the last 28 years that he needs a kind of placement.” “Things need to change,” he continued, adding that his family offers “condolences to the families and the victims that have had to endure this. This is a completely tragic incident that was completely preventable.” (Newman, 7/28)
On the gun violence epidemic —
The New York Times: Details Emerge Of Park Ave. Gunman’s Mental Health History
The New York City police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, said on Monday that law enforcement officials in Nevada had described Mr. Tamura as having a “documented mental health history.” On Tuesday, a law enforcement official briefed on the matter said that Mr. Tamura had been the subject of multiple calls related to mental health logged by the Las Vegas police. He was held involuntarily for 72 hours after mental health crises at least twice, once in 2022 and again last year, according to two other law enforcement officials, one of whom said the holds had occurred in Nevada. He had been charged with criminal trespass and received traffic citations in Nevada, records show. (Haag, Marcius and Cramer, 7/29)
The New York Times: Even New York’s Strict Gun Laws Couldn’t Prevent The Midtown Shooting
Despite New York’s stringent gun laws and the office building’s tight security, law enforcement officials and legal experts said, the shooting — the deadliest in New York City in 25 years — may have been all but unstoppable. New York has one of the world’s most sophisticated surveillance networks and the resources to deploy a massive police response, said Brittney Blair, an associate managing director of K2 Integrity, a risk-management and investigative firm. But a piecemeal network of looser regulations nationwide enabled a lone gunman with no criminal history to drive undetected across several states on his way to the city. (Chen and Bromwich, 7/29)
More health news from across the U.S. —
North Carolina Health News: Lawmakers Override NC Gov. Stein’s Vetoes Of Bills That Have Health Policy Implications
After a month away from Raleigh, state lawmakers returned to the capital on Tuesday — along with crowds of protesters and supporters — for a session aimed at overriding vetoes issued by Democratic Gov. Josh Stein during the recent legislative session. (Hoban and Crumpler, 7/30)
The Colorado Sun: Women Have Filed More Than 60% Of Colorado’s Paid Family And Medical Leave Insurance Claims
Donna Thompson didn’t want to use a cane, but she was running out of options. After years of living with debilitating hip and knee pain, the 66-year-old needed extra assistance to get around. Though she retired from her office manager job four years ago and moved to Colorado from Kansas, Thompson was still working two jobs — at a consignment clothing store and handling bookkeeping at a Sprouts Farmers Market — for extra income. She couldn’t afford to take time off for surgery. (Singer, 7/29)
CBS News: Family Of Boy Who Died From Brain-Eating Amoeba Raise Awareness: "We Don't Want His Death To Be In Vain"
The family of 12-year-old Jaysen Carr is speaking out about the child's recent passing from a brain-eating amoeba. In a new conference Tuesday in Columbia, South Carolina, Carr's parents said they wanted to bring awareness to the rare but often fatal brain infection caused by the Naegleria fowleri organism. The infection, called primary amebic meningoencephalitis, or PAM, occurs when water is forced up the nose and is able to cross into the brain, which can happen during recreational freshwater activities. (Moniuszko, 7/29)
Public Health
Alzheimer’s Association Recommends Favoring Diagnostic Blood Tests
Stat: Alzheimer's Association Clears Way For New Diagnostic Blood Tests
A major Alzheimer’s disease medical group is recommending that specialists may use certain blood tests to help diagnose patients with cognitive impairment in lieu of more complex and invasive tests, a move that could lead more people to get treated for the devastating disease. (Chen, 7/29)
Newsweek: Skin Cancer: Home Test Could Identify Melanoma
A simple skin patch and COVID-like test could soon allow people to test for melanoma in the comfort of their home—helping catch the most dangerous type of skin cancer early without the need for a biopsy or blood draw. With funding from the National Institutes of Health, researchers from the University of Michigan (U-M) developed a silicone patch with star-shaped microneedles called the 'ExoPatch'. (Millington, 7/29)
CNN: Ultraprocessed Foods May Be Linked To Increased Lung Cancer Risk, New Research Shows
There are many reasons to avoid ultraprocessed foods, including a link with heart disease, diabetes and obesity, but an increased risk of lung cancer may be yet another, a new study suggests. (Holcombe, 7/29)
In global health news —
Bloomberg: YouTube To Be Included In Australia’s Teen Social Media Ban Legislation
YouTube will be included in Australia’s social media ban for children under 16 years of age, an about-face by officials after the Google-owned video site had initially been left out of the legislation. YouTube joins Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook and Instagram, Snap Inc.’s Snapchat, TikTok and X in the ban on underage account holders, which is due to come into force on Dec. 10, the government said in a statement. (Leigh and Chandler, 7/30)
Editorials And Opinions
Viewpoints: Black Box Warnings On Menopause Treatments Are Outdated; We Expect Too Much Of Our Doctors
The Washington Post: The FDA Should Stop Scaring Women About This Menopause Treatment
For years, the Food and Drug Administration has been warning women about hormone therapies to treat menopause symptoms. The agency requires all estrogen-containing products to display a black box safety label — the most severe packaging requirement — claiming that they increase the risk of breast cancer, heart attacks and dementia. Here's the problem: It’s not accurate. (Leana S. Wen, 7/29)
Stat: Medicine Asks Doctors For More And More — Until They Break
I’m writing this with a heating pad on my back, a lukewarm cup of tea next to me, and a to-do list I’ve already given up on. Welcome to my glamorous life in medicine. (Cara Poland, 7/30)
Bloomberg: Health Screenings Work. So Why Gut The Panel Behind Them?
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is expected to fire members of the critical US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) for being too “woke,” according to the Wall Street Journal, which was first to report the news. The independent panel of volunteer experts in primary care has significant influence over the practice of medicine and access to care in the US. (Lisa Jarvis, 7/29)
Also —
CNN: Opioid Fight Demands Better Overdose Reversal Strategies, Stronger Policy Support, Former US Surgeon General Says
The recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which experts predict will reduce Medicaid coverage for millions of Americans, combined with the proposed elimination of a $56 million grant for overdose reversal training and distribution, threatens to undermine progress in reducing opioid overdose deaths. (Dr. Jerome Adams, 7/29)
Chicago Tribune: This Is How Addiction Science Is Saving Lives
Like many who have endured childhood trauma, Shannon Hicks turned to drugs at an early age. Pregnant by 16 and a mother of two by 19, she was married and living in her first home — believing she was living the dream. Shortly after her 20th birthday, Hicks was in a serious car accident and prescribed opioids for the resulting pain. But the medication unearthed long-suppressed trauma from childhood sexual abuse, intensifying her opioid use and deepening her dependence. (Diana Fishbein, 7/29)
West Virginia Watch: With WV’s History, It’s No Surprise Most Opioid Settlement Money Has Gone To Law Enforcement
West Virginia has a serious drug problem. For years, the Mountain State has been referred to as “ground zero” for the nation’s ongoing drug and overdose epidemic. Research has proven that the most effective way to help people who use drugs intravenously is syringe service programs. These programs provide free needles for drug users to help stop the spread of diseases, like HIV and hepatitis C. However, those programs are banned in West Virginia. And while harm reduction programs have proven to be effective, lawmakers continue to make it difficult to open or run them. West Virginia has nine methadone clinics, and state law prohibits any more from opening. (Leann Ray, 7/29)