Opioids

The synthetic opioid has continued to spread widely, with no signs of stopping. But, despite what many assume, there are tools at our disposal to help.

Some in public health now argue that when providers use such monitoring programs to cut off prescription opiate misuse, people who have an addiction instead turn to heroin and fentanyl.

St. Louis University sociology professor Elizabeth Chiarello outlines ways the state should spend the $450 million it will receive from a lawsuit against manufacturers and distributors of addictive opioid painkillers.

Missouri agreed to settle a lawsuit against opioid manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and three distributors for their part in the opioid crisis. But before states can collect, they must ask many cities and towns to drop their own lawsuits against the companies.

Gov. Mike Parson has signed a bill that advocates say will help prevent opioid abuse after nearly a decade of failed attempts.

A large share of construction workers in Missouri, southern Illinois and Kansas are being diagnosed with muscle and joint injuries each year, according to a large analysis of union health care data from Washington University, and many are prescribed opioid painkillers.

St. Louis-based pharmaceutical company Mallinckrodt on Monday filed for bankruptcy after years of lawsuits alleging the drug company shared blame for the opioid epidemic. State, local and tribal governments have sued Mallinckrodt and other opioid manufacturers, saying the companies pushed the painkillers to patients despite knowing how addictive and dangerous they were.

The number of fatal opioid overdoses in St. Louis and St. Louis County in the first seven months of this year is 32% higher than in the same period in 2019. Black men in the region saw a 56% increase in the number of overdose deaths.

Two St. Louis addiction treatment advocates have opened a 24-hour clinic that treats addiction and mental health problems using the urgent-care model.

More often than not, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is associated with tracking drug cartels and arresting traffickers. But the law enforcement…