opioids

Health Care Workers Need to Be Watching the Splintering Drug Supply

In the summer of 2016, the synthetic cannabinoid "K2" burst into the drug landscape in Austin, where I was working…

September 28, 2021

How Overdose Surged for Black People as It Held Steady for Whites

As opioid-involved overdose fatalities were holding steady for most racial groups prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, new research details how…

September 15, 2021

Why San Francisco Drug Users Are Injecting Less, Smoking Fentanyl More

Many people who use drugs in San Francisco have been reducing their injecting of heroin and other drugs and smoking…

September 14, 2021

Biden Looks to Make Harsh Criminalization of Fentanyl Analogs Permanent

President Joe Biden is seeking to extend indefinitely a Trump-era rule on the scheduling of fentanyl analogs that facilitates harsh…

September 8, 2021

Rural Counties Awarded $78 Million through Opioid Response Program

The federal government has allocated more than $80 million to combat the opioid-involved overdose crisis and support public health in…

August 16, 2021

Will Missouri’s Opioid Settlement Payout Mean Much for Harm Reduction?

At least 1,921 Missourians died of opioid-involved overdose in 2020, an increase of almost 20 percent from the year before.…

August 4, 2021

You Can No Longer Be Arrested for Carrying Fentanyl Test Strips in Philly

On August 2, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney announced that city police will no longer be able to arrest people who…

August 4, 2021

Vancouver Activists Hand Out Drugs, Demand Better Safe Supply Options

On July 14 Jean Swanson, a city councillor of Vancouver, British Columbia (BC), helped to hand out free heroin during…

July 19, 2021

Rhode Island on the Brink of Authorizing Safe Consumption Sites

On June 29, the Rhode Island House of Representatives voted in favor of a bill to authorize safe consumption sites,…

July 1, 2021

Orlando, Florida, Gets Its First Syringe Program—With Strings Attached

Orange County, Florida, launched its first syringe service program (SSP) on June 1. The county, home to the city of…

June 17, 2021