Women whose children have become addicted to opioids are working to change laws around the country. They seek improved access to treatment and reduced stigma.
Roughly 265,000 U.S. kids entered foster care last year — the highest number since 2008. Officials say the abuse of heroin or prescription painkillers by more parents is one reason for the increase.
Having police, school nurses, drug users and family equipped with kits to reverse an overdose saves lives, doctors say. But reversing addiction requires follow-up care that many users aren't getting.
Acupuncture and massage haven't been proven to ease pain better than drugs — and may cost more. But Oregon hopes these sorts of alternatives to pills will reduce the societal costs of opioid abuse.
With deaths from heroin and painkillers on the rise, more nurses at high schools and middle schools are prepared to intervene in the event of an overdose on school grounds.
U.S. drug officials have traced a sharp spike in the already climbing death toll from heroin overdoses to an additive — acetyl fentanyl. The fentanyl is being cooked up in clandestine labs in Mexico.
All told, more than half a million Americans used heroin in 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That represents a nearly 150 percent increase since 2007.
Hospitals in some states have begun tracking the names of patients who show up repeatedly seeking opioids. Denying these patients pills saves hospitals money, but some doctors question the ethics.
The rise in heroin use in the town of Turners Falls, Mass., has led to another problem: a proliferation of discarded hypodermic needles. Police can't keep up, so they've asked residents to help.
Like asthma or diabetes, opioid addiction is a chronic condition. Could treatment that begins when people show up in the ER get them on the right road faster?