Latest News On Substance Misuse

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Drug Users Armed With Naloxone Double As Medics On Streets Of San Francisco

KFF Health News Original

The widespread availability of naloxone, which reverses overdoses, has radically changed the culture of opioid use on the streets, giving drug users a sense of security and inducing them to seek out the more powerful high of the synthetic opioid fentanyl.

Aspiring Doctors Seek Advanced Training In Addiction Medicine

KFF Health News Original

Once a tiny specialty that drew mostly psychiatrists, addiction medicine is expanding its accredited training to include primary care residents and “social justice warriors” who see it as a calling.

More States Say Doctors Must Offer Overdose Reversal Drug Along With Opioids

KFF Health News Original

In an emerging new tactic against the rising toll of opioid deaths, California, Ohio, Virginia and Arizona are among the states requiring physicians to offer patients naloxone when they give them prescriptions for the powerful painkillers. The Food and Drug Administration is weighing a national recommendation to do so.