Archives: Morning Breakouts

After the release of new data about just where the billions of pain pills went to during the start of the opioid crisis, media outlets take a look at the places that were hardest hit. “There’s not a lot to do,” said Dennis Boggs, 45, a chef at Burger King in a small Virginia town. That’s his explanation for the drug use. “It gives them something to do around here.” Meanwhile, rare criminal charges are brought against an Ohio opioid distributor.

But, experts warn, the overdose death rate is still about seven times higher than it was a generation ago. And overdose deaths from synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, are still trending up.

Previously undisclosed data--obtained by The Washington Post and HD Media, publisher of the Charleston Gazette-Mail in West Virginia--on the distribution of painkillers during the epidemic cements drug companies as the target for blame. The numbers reveal “clear heinous, criminal distribution that has visibly contributed, if not caused, the crisis our country is facing with opioid use disorder,” the anti-drug group Shatterproof said in a statement. The drug companies are facing thousands of lawsuits over the issue. News on the epidemic comes out of New York, Tennessee, Arizona and Kansas, as well.