opioids

Officials say the pandemic and dealers who mix fentanyl with other drugs have contributed to the increase in overdose deaths in Florida.

COVID survivors are at risk from a possible second pandemic, this time of opioid addiction, given the high rate of painkillers being prescribed to these patients, health experts say.

With the deadly opioid fentanyl pushing overdose deaths to record levels, federal officials hope buprenorphine will save lives in parts of the country where the drug is rarely prescribed.

If the bankruptcy plan is approved, Florida could get up to $280 million to $400 million over a 10-year period.

Under a bankruptcy plan filed late Monday, the OxyContin maker would pay $500 million up front, promising billions in future payments. Twenty-four states rejected the proposal.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the opioid epidemic continues to plague officials at all levels — and Pasco County is receiving help to battle the problem.

The settlement says that $558.9 million will be used to "remediate the harms caused to the settling states and their citizens by the opioid epidemic."

Damages could total in the billions. "Walmart had the responsibility and the means to help prevent the diversion of prescription opioids. Instead, for years, it did the opposite," the government said.

The controversial deal hashed out between the Department of Justice and the maker of Oxycontin provides hundreds of millions of dollars of relief for communities hit hard by the opioid epidemic.

Researchers found that kratom tea alleviated some withdrawal symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, in morphine-addicted mice.