Governors Target Opioid Abuse At Summit: ‘It Truly Is An All-Hands-On-Deck Moment’
State leaders gathered in Iowa for the National Governors Association meeting where they devoted a session on Friday to addressing the opioid epidemic ravaging the country. In other news, an opioid for elephants is showing up in street drugs, Maryland's decision to exclude a medication used to taper addiction from its Medicaid preferred drugs list draws criticism and the crisis hits Florida's youngest residents.
The Des Moines Register:
Painkiller, Heroin Epidemic Draws Governors' Resolve
Governors gathered in Des Moines vowed Friday to rein in the rampant abuse of prescription painkillers, heroin and other narcotic drugs... A large “life clock” hung over the conference table. The computerized display estimated how many Americans had died of drug overdoses so far this year. The toll was 15,333 at the 1:30 p.m. start of the meeting. By the 3 p.m. adjournment, the number had hit 15,336. (Leys, 7/15)
Cincinnati Enquirer:
Warning: Opioid For Elephants Hitting Ohio Streets
Beware of a new deadly drug, an analgesic used for elephants, which has been spotted in Greater Cincinnati: The Hamilton County Heroin Coalition warned Friday of the powerful opioid carfentanil, which has been identified in local supplies of heroin. The synthetic opioid is 100 times stronger than fentanyl, the analgesic blamed for increasing overdose deaths and 10,000 times stronger than morphine on the streets. (DeMio, 7/15)
The Baltimore Sun:
State Medicaid Program Limits Access To A Drug Treatment, Upsetting Advocates
As heroin and other opioid-related overdose deaths continue to rise across Maryland, some who treat addiction are criticizing a move by the state to limit access to a drug treatment used by thousands of patients and considered effective. The state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene changed this month the list of drugs preferred by Medicaid to exclude Suboxone Film, a small, medication-infused sheet that dissolves under the tongue and is used to taper addiction by interrupting the effects of opioids in the brain. (Cohn and Marbella, 7/15)
News-Press.com:
Born High: Florida Battles Rising Cases Of Addicted Newborns
Florida's collective addiction to painkillers and drugs like heroin continues to take a toll on the state's most vulnerable victims: newborn babies. The number of children born physically dependent on drugs — particularly opioids like methadone, heroin and oxycodone — have nearly doubled since 2010, despite continuing public awareness campaigns and a state effort to mitigate the problem, newly obtained hospital records show. (Gluck, 7/16)