opioids

Three years after a government site launched to connect Americans to treatment, finding addiction care is still a struggle.

Some physicians say administering anti-addiction medication as a monthly injection holds tremendous potential. So, why aren’t more patients getting it?

The bans from laws criminalizing drug paraphernalia adopted decades ago, but the devices are now recommended to help prevent overdose deaths. The Florida Legislature recently failed to end its ban.

Walgreens was the 12th and final defendant in the state's legal battle against opioid manufacturers, distributors and pharmaceutical companies it holds responsible for the epidemic.

Until 2018, fentanyl was mailed into the U.S. from China, but now it’s primarily transported across the Mexican border by cartels, says Dr. Kenneth Palestrant.

The report calls for better access to naloxone, a drug that can reverse an overdose. The report also calls for more education warning about fentanyl and illicit drug use.

While adult overdoses surged in the last decades, teens hadn't seen the same kind of death rates. But now fatal overdoses nearly doubled in one year and continued to rise in 2021.

The Pasco trial is expected to last a couple of months. The state says Walgreens ignored red flags and filled millions of suspicious prescriptions. Walgreens says drugmakers misled pharmacies about risks.

Many blame the agency's earlier guidance for suffering and even suicide risk among chronic pain patients. Critics say the updated advice may not fix the problem.

The lawsuit centers on settlements the attorney general's office reached with companies that manufacture, distribute or sell opioids — and similar lawsuits that the hospital systems and school board have filed.