The opioid crisis is getting more expensive

Oct 21, 2019
Lost earnings from those who have died of overdoses were a major factor, according to the Society of Actuaries.
Flowers are placed at a Minneapolis memorial for people who have died from opioid overdoses.
Kerem Yucel/AFP/Getty Images

Companies reach $260 million deal to settle opioids lawsuit

Oct 21, 2019
The nation’s three dominant drug distributors and a big drugmaker have reached a $260 million deal to settle an opioid crisis lawsuit just as the first federal trial over the crisis was due to begin.
Pill Man, a skeleton made from Frank Huntley's oxycontin and methadone prescription bottles, is seen on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House August 30, 2019, in Washington, DC.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

West Virginia foster parents say they need more support

Oct 9, 2019
Roughly 5% of the state's babies are born with neonatal abstinence syndrome. Families taking them in say they feel unprepared for the task.
A memorial in Huntington, West Virginia, in 2017.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Inside West Virginia’s overwhelmed foster care system

Oct 9, 2019
About 85% of the children in state custody have a parent who struggles with substance use disorder. The system is straining to care for them.
A homemade sign says "Think drugs gets you high give God a try," on a front lawn in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. The town in Wise County has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic.
Julia Rendleman/Marketplace

Would a $10 billion Purdue settlement reach towns affected by the opioid crisis?

Aug 28, 2019
A proposed settlement would reportedly see the OxyContin maker declaring bankruptcy and paying big. Is that enough for people on the ground?
A homemade sign says "Think drugs gets you high give God a try," on a front lawn in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. The town in Wise County has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic.
Julia Rendleman/Marketplace

Johnson & Johnson hit with $572 million opioid ruling — what happens now?

Johnson & Johnson is appealing the decision, which could be the first of many legal battles.
A judge has ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million in connection with the opioid crisis in Oklahoma.
Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Trump plans to fight opioid epidemic online, in ads

Mar 19, 2018
Congressional hearings on more than a dozen opioid bills start on Wednesday. Today President Donald Trump unveiled his plan to tackle the epidemic … including a multimillion dollar media blitz that he promises will keep kids from getting hooked on prescription painkillers and heroin. Click the audio player above to hear the full story. 

Philadelphia makes an economic case for safe injection sites

Feb 15, 2018
The facilities could save at least $2 million a year by reducing expensive ambulance rides, emergency room trips and hospital visits, the city says.
A man uses heroin under a bridge where he lives with other addicts in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, which has become a hub for heroin use.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to stop marketing opioids to doctors

Purdue’s promotions exaggerated the drug’s safety and risks of addiction, leaning heavily on one sentence used by sales reps to market the drug to doctors.
The prescription medicine OxyContin is displayed Aug. 21, 2001 at a Walgreens drugstore.
Darren McCollester/Getty Images