opioid

The Florida Attorney General’s Office says the settlement will help fund opioid addiction treatment, prevention and recovery programs.

More than a million Americans use Medicaid to get addiction treatments like methadone. But as states update their systems, some patients have lost coverage. Even a short gap can be life-threatening.

As fentanyl deaths soar, political pressure is growing to stop Mexican cartels that smuggle the drug. Experts on drug trafficking say trying to lock down the Mexican border is an impossible goal.

Miami-Dade County and other cities have filed lawsuits against the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company over its past work in helping market opioids.

The Biden administration is moving to make it easier for Americans with opioid addiction to gain access to medical treatments proven to save lives.

Emergent BioSolutions has applied to the Food and Drug Administration to sell the opioid overdose-reversal drug over the counter. Addiction experts say it may be a key step to lower fentanyl deaths.

The Biden administration will use data from EMS first responders to track overdoses. The focus will be on improving response to a public health crisis that kills more than 100,000 Americans annually.

The cash represents an unprecedented opportunity to derail the opioid epidemic. But with countless groups advocating for a share of the pie, the impact could depend heavily on geography and politics.

The updated recommendations seek to course correct after guidelines from 2016 were criticized for harshly limiting access to needed pain medication.

The developments amount to what could be the last round of huge settlements after years of litigation over the drug industry’s role in an overdose crisis that has been linked to more than 500,000 U,S. deaths.

Many Republicans have recast the debate over drugs and fentanyl as a crime and border security problem. Often their attacks are based on conspiracy theories and discredited ideas about addiction.

As Florida grapples with nearly 2,000 overdose deaths so far this year, state leaders on Wednesday announced a “massive” effort to address opioid addiction in counties that need it most.