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California legislators debate froot loops and free condoms

California state lawmakers this year are continuing their progressive tilt on health policy with dozens of proposals including a ban on a Froot Loops ingredient and free condoms for high schoolers.

23 Apr 2024

Rural jails turn to community health workers to help the newly released succeed

Garrett Clark estimates he has spent about six years in the Sanpete County Jail, a plain concrete building perched on a dusty hill just outside this small, rural town where he grew up.

22 Apr 2024

To stop fentanyl deaths in Philadelphia, knocking on doors and handing out overdose kits

On a narrow street lined with row houses and an auto body shop in the Kensington neighborhood of North Philadelphia, Marsella Elie climbs a home's front steps and knocks hard on the door.

17 Apr 2024

Swap funds or add services? Use of opioid settlement cash sparks strong disagreements

State and local governments are receiving billions of dollars in opioid settlements to address the drug crisis that has ravaged America for decades.

15 Apr 2024

City-country mortality gap widens amid persistent holes in rural health care access

In Matthew Roach's two years as vital statistics manager for the Arizona Department of Health Services, and 10 years previously in its epidemiology program, he has witnessed a trend in mortality rates that has rural health experts worried.

9 Apr 2024

More kids are dying of drug overdoses. Could pediatricians do more to help?

A 17-year-old boy with shaggy blond hair stepped onto the scale at Tri-River Family Health Center in Uxbridge, Massachusetts.

5 Apr 2024

UT Health San Antonio launches Be Well Institute for substance use research and treatment

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) is establishing the Be Well Institute on Substance Use and Related Disorders, a pioneering initiative dedicated to advancing research, education and evidence-based treatments.

3 Apr 2024

Track opioid settlement payouts — to the cent — in your community

State and local governments are receiving billions of dollars in settlements from companies that made, sold, or distributed prescription painkillers and were accused of fueling the opioid crisis.

2 Apr 2024

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': The Supreme Court and the abortion pill

In its first abortion case since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, the Supreme Court this week looked unlikely to uphold an appeals court ruling that would dramatically restrict the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone.

28 Mar 2024

Overdosing on chemo: A common gene test could save hundreds of lives each year

One January morning in 2021, Carol Rosen took a standard treatment for metastatic breast cancer. Three gruesome weeks later, she died in excruciating pain from the very drug meant to prolong her life.

26 Mar 2024

A paramedic was skeptical about this Rx for stopping repeat opioid overdoses. Then he saw it help.

Fire Capt. Jesse Blaire steered his SUV through the mobile home park until he spotted the little beige house with white trim and radioed to let dispatchers know he'd arrived.

25 Mar 2024

Researchers sound a clarion call for greater investment in bereavement care

The public health toll from bereavement is well-documented in the medical literature, with bereaved persons at greater risk for many adverse outcomes, including mental health challenges, decreased quality of life, health care neglect, cancer, heart disease, suicide, and death.

15 Mar 2024

West Virginia city once battered by opioid overdoses confronts ‘fourth wave’

From 2006 through 2014, more than 81 million painkiller pills were shipped to this city and surrounding rural Cabell County.

13 Mar 2024

DNA aptamer-based sensors can accurately detect trace amounts of fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new generation of high-performance DNA aptamers and highly accurate drug sensors for cocaine and other opioids.

5 Mar 2024

RMIT-led study highlights the urgent need for more drug testing facilities in Australia

Testing of illicit drugs bought online found 35% were not what they said they were, highlighting the urgent need for more local drug testing facilities in Australia to prevent harm and overdose.

5 Mar 2024

Statistical models vs. front-line workers: Who knows best how to spend opioid settlement cash?

In this Gulf Coast city, addiction medicine doctor Stephen Loyd announced at a January event what he called "a game-changer" for state and local governments spending billions of dollars in opioid settlement funds.

5 Mar 2024

How a friend’s death turned Colorado teens into anti-overdose activists

Gavinn McKinney loved Nike shoes, fireworks, and sushi. He was studying Potawatomi, one of the languages of his Native American heritage.

1 Mar 2024

California hospitals, advocates seek stable funding to retain behavioral health navigators

Health providers and addiction experts warn the funding structure is unstable for a California initiative that steers patients with substance use disorder into long-term treatment after they are discharged from emergency rooms, which has already led some critical employees to leave their jobs.

1 Mar 2024

Horse sedative use among humans spreads in deadly mixture of ‘tranq’ and fentanyl

Andrew McClave Jr. loved to lift weights. The 6-foot-4-inch bartender resembled a bodybuilder and once posed for a photo flexing his muscles with former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan.

26 Feb 2024

National survey reveals high exposure to drug overdose deaths among Americans

More than 40% of Americans know someone who has died of a drug overdose and about one-third of those individuals say their lives were disrupted by the death, according to a new RAND study.

21 Feb 2024

Overdose News and Research

California legislators debate froot loops and free condoms

Rural jails turn to community health workers to help the newly released succeed

To stop fentanyl deaths in Philadelphia, knocking on doors and handing out overdose kits

Swap funds or add services? Use of opioid settlement cash sparks strong disagreements

City-country mortality gap widens amid persistent holes in rural health care access

More kids are dying of drug overdoses. Could pediatricians do more to help?

UT Health San Antonio launches Be Well Institute for substance use research and treatment

Track opioid settlement payouts — to the cent — in your community

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': The Supreme Court and the abortion pill

Overdosing on chemo: A common gene test could save hundreds of lives each year

A paramedic was skeptical about this Rx for stopping repeat opioid overdoses. Then he saw it help.

Researchers sound a clarion call for greater investment in bereavement care

West Virginia city once battered by opioid overdoses confronts ‘fourth wave’

DNA aptamer-based sensors can accurately detect trace amounts of fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine

RMIT-led study highlights the urgent need for more drug testing facilities in Australia

Statistical models vs. front-line workers: Who knows best how to spend opioid settlement cash?

How a friend’s death turned Colorado teens into anti-overdose activists

California hospitals, advocates seek stable funding to retain behavioral health navigators

Horse sedative use among humans spreads in deadly mixture of ‘tranq’ and fentanyl

National survey reveals high exposure to drug overdose deaths among Americans

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

From Puberty to Menopause: Clue’s CEO, Audrey Tsang on the Power of Femtech

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