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The city's per capita overdose death rate is among the highest in the U.S. To help address the crisis, city officials launched Street Overdose Response Teams, part of a broader public health effort.
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HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra told NPR the U.S. has to do more to help people using illegal drugs survive. "If we want to keep people alive we've got to try everything the evidence says might work."
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Black communities face a growing share of overdoses, but addiction treatment resources and attention are still focused on white communities.
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With a federal judge poised to approve Purdue Pharma's controversial Chapter 11 plan, the company is working behind the scenes to preempt a legal challenge by the DOJ.
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Deaths from drugs and alcohol have increased by more than 600% in state prisons in the last two decades, giving lie to the idea that sending addicts to prison can help them stop using.
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More than 93,000 people died of a drug overdose in the U.S. last year, according to new CDC data. Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids accounted primarily for the rise, which the pandemic exacerbated.
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Researchers know how to curb the risks of overdose and disease among drug users, but policymakers are reluctant to allow public health measures that include needle exchanges and access to safer drugs.
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Documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney investigated the opioid crisis. He says it was created by pharmaceutical companies, distributors, pharmacists and doctors, all looking to profit.
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The CDC says hospitals saw a lot more emergency cases involving drug overdoses, as well as mental health crises and suicide attempts. Many emergency departments weren't ready.
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Black Americans with addiction face "pervasive and continuing systemic racism" and often struggle to gain access to treatments that prevent fatal overdoses.