New laws in Minnesota and Vermont understand that allowing people to test their drugs reduces harm—and is a vital public health measure. OVER THE PAST two weeks, Minnesota and Vermont took steps to explicitly legalize, fund, and expand drug-checking resources. These are major developments for drug policy. Tools like mass spectrometers and fentanyl test strips provide people with real-time information about what’s...Read More

Drug overdose deaths in the United States plateaued in 2022 but still topped 100,000 — stark proof that the nation remains in the throes of a staggering crisis killing hundreds of Americans daily. According to provisional data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 105,452 people succumbed to overdoses in...Read More

The rate of drug overdose deaths linked to fentanyl in the United States has skyrocketed over the last five years, new federal data showed. The rate of overdose deaths involving fentanyl spiked by 279% between 2016 and 2021 from 5.7 per 100,000 to 21.6 per 100,000, according to a report published early Wednesday by the National Center...Read More

Grammy Award-winning artist Macklemore to join the recovery community for Mobilize Recovery 2023 in Washington, D.C. Continuing its mission to support, motivate, and empower the 23 million Americans in long term recovery, Mobilize Recovery, one of America’s largest advocacy groups focused on people seeking and living in recovery from substance use disorder (SUD), is announcing...Read More

With four Grammy awards under his belt and tens of millions of records sold, Macklemore has achieved remarkable success in the music industry. His music has been streamed over 13 billion times, solidifying his status as a popular and influential artist. The rapper, whose birth name is Benjamin Haggerty, has recently released his first new...Read More

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved selling the leading version of naloxone without a prescription, setting the overdose-reversing drug on course to become the first opioid treatment drug to be sold over the counter. It’s a move that some advocates have long sought as a way to improve access to a life-saving drug, though...Read More

I worked on Capitol Hill and in state houses across the country for years, before a seemingly benign OxyContin prescription for pain sent me into a decade long tailspin that nearly ended my life. If I had not been able to access medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) treatment with buprenorphine, I would not be...Read More

Patients may soon be able to obtain addiction treatments and medications through telehealth visits — without having to see a doctor in person. The Biden administration unveiled new regulations aimed at increasing patient access to certain medications and addiction treatments, and the proposed rules from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), announced Friday, make permanent certain...Read More

So many of Deborah Krauss’s friends and neighbors have died of drug overdoses during the pandemic that she said she felt as if she had been living inside of a dream. The longest she has gone without someone dying, she noted, is three weeks. Her calendar grew cluttered with funerals. “I lost count at 40,”...Read More

Fentanyl seems to have a strange grip on the public mind these days, as breathless (often questionable) narratives around this drug are everywhere. According to the news media, this mysterious substance is appearing on shopping cart handles, in children’s Halloween candy, in baby formula, and even poisoning police officers who are near it. Many media outlets push unsubstantiated rumors about this phantom...Read More