News

The synthetic opioid fentanyl has been driving up the rate of fatal drug overdoses across racial and social lines in the United States, with the sharpest increase among African Americans, according to new analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read More.

Men are dying after opioid overdoses at nearly three times the rate of women in the United States. Overdose deaths are increasing faster among black and Latino Americans than among whites. And there’s an especially steep rise in the number of young adults ages 25 to 24 whose death certificates include some version of the drug fentanyl. Read More.

The nation’s top medical advisers say medicines proven to treat opioid addiction remain vastly underused in the U.S. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine released a report Wednesday that found only a fraction of the estimated 2 million Americans addicted to opioids are receiving medications. Read More.

One of the most popular and effective treatments used to fight the U.S. opioid epidemic is about to get much cheaper. Read More.

State data shows the number of deaths from opioids and suicides in Minnesota reached record levels in 2017…State officials have set goals of reducing suicides by 10 percent in 2020 and 20 percent in 2025. Read More.

America’s opioid crisis is a terrible tragedy in itself. Increasingly, though, the evidence suggests that it’s behind another malaise: the growing ranks of prime-aged males dropping out of the labor force. Read More.

The Minnesota House voted Monday night to hold drug manufacturers responsible for the state’s growing costs for dealing with the opioid crisis…It would support a wide range of prevention, education, intervention, treatment and recovery strategies. Read More.

Deaths from suicide and opioid overdoses reached record highs in Minnesota in 2017, according to new state data. A total of 783 residents died by suicide, a 5 percent increase from 2016. Suicides have increased 78 percent in Minnesota since 2000…there were 422 deaths from opioid overdoses in 2017, a 12 percent jump from the year before. Read More.

Minnesota saw an increase in deaths stemming from preventable causes in 2017 state data show, and officials said that should fuel a push for change at the Capitol. Read More.

The Minnesota House voted Monday night to hold drug manufacturers responsible for the state’s growing costs for dealing with the opioid crisis. Read More.