addiction

A Tragic Death Shows How ERs Fail Patients Who Struggle With Addiction

11:00am July 14, 2021

by Aneri Pattani

ER doctors wanted to hospitalize the young man to help ease his withdrawal from opioid dependence. But he declined because he couldn't afford it. His mom says no one told him he had financial options.

Mike Marshall is the co-founder and director of Oregon Recovers. He says he's concerned the state is failing to expand addiction treatment capacity in a strategic way. "So we put the cart before the horse," he says.

National

Oregon's Pioneering Drug Decriminalization Experiment Is Now Facing The Hard Test

12:11pm June 19, 2021

by Eric Westervelt

Oregon's bold move to decriminalize small amounts of all hard drugs and expand treatment is now meeting the reality of implementation as the treatment community is divided over the way forward.

Will wipes away sweat on a hot day while walking down Willow Street in Lynn, Mass., as he looks to distribute safety supplies to drug users on the street.

National

He Lost Nearly Everything To Addiction. Then An Arrest Changed His Life

7:04am June 19, 2021

by Martha Bebinger

For years, people who used drugs were treated like criminals, often given long sentences. Now there's growing acceptance that addiction is a treatable disease, but shame and discrimination linger.

Artist William Stoehr says he wants his portraits to show that addiction affects everyone, and to prompt the sort of conversations that people began having about HIV/AIDS decades ago.

Health & Safety

An Artist And A Scientist Take On The Stigma Of Addiction

7:01am May 01, 2021

by Jon Hamilton

The nation's top addiction scientist has teamed up with a prominent artist to let people know that substance use disorder is a disease, not a moral failure.

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Federal agencies report a troubling rise in overdoses from a variety of drugs that have been laced with the potent synthetic opioid fentanyl.

Overdose Deaths Surged In Pandemic, As More Drugs Were Laced With Fentanyl

4:35pm April 22, 2021

by Brian Mann

Researchers say cocaine, meth and other street drugs are increasingly contaminated with deadly synthetic opioids, contributing to a major spike in deaths.

A person holds up a portrait of George Floyd as people gather outside the Hennepin County Government Center on April 9 in Minneapolis

National

Critics Say Chauvin Defense 'Weaponized' Stigma For Black Americans With Addiction

8:27pm April 16, 2021

by Brian Mann

Derek Chauvin's defense has suggested George Floyd's drug use might have made him more "volatile" and unpredictable, justifying the use of force. Critics say Floyd needed health care and compassion.

Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say fatal drug overdoses nationwide surged roughly 20% during the pandemic, killing more than 83,000 people in 2020. A growing body of research suggests Black Americans have suffered the heavies

National

Drug Overdose Deaths Surge Among Black Americans During Pandemic

5:00am March 03, 2021

by Brian Mann

Black Americans with addiction face "pervasive and continuing systemic racism" and often struggle to gain access to treatments that prevent fatal overdoses.

This 2017 photo shows a slogan is on the storefront of Journey, a former substance abuse treatment center, in Lake Worth, Fla. Now closed, it was one of two centers owned by Kenneth Chatman, who is now serving a 27-year federal prison sentence for health

As Addiction Deaths Surge, Profit-Driven Rehab Industry Faces 'Severe Ethical Crisis'

2:56pm February 15, 2021

by Brian Mann

Many drug rehab programs use aggressive sales techniques, price-gouge patients and provide substandard care. The system often pushes people struggling with addiction into debt, but not recovery.

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President Biden speaks about the coronavirus pandemic in the State Dining Room of the White House on Tuesday.

National

With Biden Team Focused On Other Crises, Experts Say Drug Epidemic Is Exploding

2:40pm January 29, 2021

by Brian Mann

The Biden administration had Day One plans for the pandemic, economy and climate change. Experts say they haven't yet seen that same focus on the addiction crisis, which is killing 220 people a day.

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Critics say the president and his allies are using a disease experienced by more than 20 million Americans as a political weapon.

Experts Say Attack On Hunter Biden's Addiction Deepens Stigma For Millions

11:47am October 16, 2020

by Brian Mann

President Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. called Biden "a crackhead." Researchers say that kind of humiliation puts many Americans with addiction at risk. Most people never get help because of shame.

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