opioid drugs Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

How Washington, Idaho are attempting to reduce increased opioid overdose deaths

By Lauren Gallup March 24, 2023

Rachel Ahrens and Nora Hacker of First United Methodist Church in downtown Tacoma, show off the building's new Narcan vending machine. The medicine inside is free to all and has already saved one person's life, that they know of. Photo by Lauren Gallup.

In downtown Tacoma, Rachel Ahrens said she sees drug use and abuse frequently. “I've personally seen somebody that was just slumped up against the door and looked to be like an overdose,” said Ahrens, who is the building administrator for First United Methodist Church. “I didn't have Narcan at that time, so I wasn't able to administer that. So I had to call 911, for them Read More

Purdue Pharma Reaches $8B Opioid Deal With Justice Department Over OxyContin Sales

By NPR News October 21, 2020

Purdue Pharma headquarters in Stamford, Conn., in 2019. Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, and its owners, the Sackler family, have faced hundreds of lawsuits over the company's alleged role in the opioid epidemic that has killed more than 200,000 Americans. CREDIT: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Critics say the settlement doesn't hold company executives or members of the Sackler family accountable for their aggressive marketing of OxyContin, which helped fuel the nation's opioid epidemic.Read More

Sharp Rise In Drug Overdose Deaths Seen During 1st Few Months Of Pandemic

By NPR News October 14, 2020

A Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) chemist checks confiscated powder containing fentanyl at the DEA Northeast Regional Laboratory on Oct. 8, 2019 in New York. CREDIT: Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images

New data from the CDC show more than 19,000 Americans died from drug overdoses during the first three months of 2020 with the country on pace to set a grim new record.Read More

The Kratom Debate: Helpful Herb Or Dangerous Drug?

By NPR News January 13, 2020

Kratom, an herb that's abundant, legal in most states and potentially dangerous, is the subject of an ongoing debate over its risks and benefits.Read More

Pharmaceutical Executives Face Prison Time In Case Linked To Opioid Crisis

By NPR News January 13, 2020

John Kapoor, founder of Arizona-based Insys Therapeutics, is scheduled to be sentenced this month. Boston Globe/Boston Globe via Getty Images

John Kapoor, the former billionaire who founded drugmaker Insys Therapeutics, is among the executives to be sentenced for racketeering.Read More

In 2019, The Legal Fight Over Opioids Unraveled Into Confusion And Infighting

By NPR News December 28, 2019

Millions of Americans sank into addiction after using potent opioid painkillers, such as acetaminophen/oxycodone, that companies churned out and doctors freely prescribed over the past two decades. CREDIT: Eric Baradat /AFP via Getty Images

This was meant to be the year we answered a big question about the deadly opioid epidemic: Will drug companies that make and sell prescription pain medications be held liable? That clarity never came.Read More

Sacklers Withdrew Nearly $11 Billion From Purdue As Opioid Crisis Mounted

By NPR News December 17, 2019

Tufts University stripped the Sackler name from several of its buildings and divisions earlier this month, citing the billionaire family's role in the opioid crisis. The founders of Purdue Pharma have come under intense scrutiny for how their company misled doctors and patients about the addictiveness of its signature medication. Steven Senne/AP

According to a court filing Monday, the family pulled about $10.7 billion from Purdue since 2008 — ramping up withdrawals even after executives pleaded guilty to misleading regulators about OxyContin.Read More

Yakima Medical Student’s Personal Opioid History Will Help Inform How He Prescribes

By NPR News November 26, 2019

Matthew Braun, a first-year medical student at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences in Yakima, Wash., says his personal history with opioids will help him care for patients. CREDIT: Jovelle Tamayo for NPR

One medical student was addicted to opioids. Another relied on them to control disabling pain. Both think their experiences will help them be better doctors when it comes to prescribing opioids.Read More

New York AG Says Sacklers Transferred $1B From Purdue Pharma Accounts To Themselves

By NPR News September 14, 2019

Members of P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now) and Truth Pharm staged a protest on Thursday outside Purdue Pharma headquarters in Stamford, Conn., over its recent controversial opioid settlement. CREDIT: Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images

The revelation comes after almost two dozen states reached a tentative settlement with the maker of OxyContin.Read More

Several Drug Companies Considering Large Settlements To Resolve Opioid Suits

By NPR News August 28, 2019

Purdue Pharma and other health care giants are discussing potential deals with authorities that could resolve thousands of lawsuits they're facing over the U.S. opioid epidemic. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Confronted with a torrent of lawsuits across the U.S., several major drug companies are in discussions with authorities to resolve thousands of opioid-related suits filed against them. A government source close to the negotiations tells NPR that Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, Endo International and Allergan are looking to cut deals.Read More

Federal Judge Orders Release Of Dataset Showing Drug Industry’s Role In Opioid Crisis

By NPR News July 16, 2019

As addiction has soared, drugmakers, distributors and pharmacies profited off opioids. Newly released data details who made the pills, where they were sold, and which communities were hit hardest. Read More

Leaders From 13 States Urge Federal Court To Allow Supervised Injection Sites

By NPR News July 11, 2019

Supplies sit on a check-in desk at a model of a hypothetical injection site in San Francisco, pictured here in September 2018. Local leaders from San Francisco are among a dozen local officials urging a federal court to allow an effort to open a supervised injection site in Philadelphia. Eric Risberg/AP

A friend-of-the-court brief submitted Wednesday by leaders from five cities — Seattle, Ithaca, New York City, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco — says injection sites, widely used in parts of Canada and Europe, need to be part of the way cities respond to the opioid crisis.Read More

Politicians, Government Agencies Feud Over Payouts Tied To Opioid Epidemic

By NPR News July 1, 2019

A 5ml dose of liquid oxycodone, an opioid pain relief medication, sits on a table in Washington, D.C., March 29, 2019. During the opioid epidemic, roughly 218,000 Americans have died from overdoses tied to prescription pain pills, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. EVA HAMBACH/AFP/Getty Images

Government officials are bickering over hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements paid by Big Pharma, stemming from the nation's deadly opioid epidemic. The pharmaceutical industry paid out more than half a billion dollars over the last year alone. All sides expect the scale of settlements to grow fast as more cases go to trial.Read More

Pharma Company Insys Files For Chapter 11, Days After Opioid Settlement Of $225 Million

By NPR News June 10, 2019

Insys Therapeutics founder John Kapoor departs federal court in Boston, Jan. 30. On Monday the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, saying it needs to sell its assets to pay back creditors. Kapoor, who was convicted last month of racketeering, owns more than 63% of the company. Steven Senne/AP

The maker of a highly addictive fentanyl-based drug wants to sell its assets to pay some $250 million in debts. The move could let the company out of part of the settlement deal reached last week.Read More

Opioid Maker Insys Admits To Bribing Doctors, Agrees To Pay $225 Million Settlement

By Scott Leadingham June 5, 2019

Insys, the maker of fentanyl-based Subsys, agreed to a $225 million settlement with the federal government to resolve criminal and civil investigations of the company's role in the opioid crisis. Reuters

The company agreed to make the payments to resolve federal criminal and civil investigations of its marketing practices. Five of its executives were convicted separately for the same practices.Read More

Report Says Locking Up Mentally Ill, Drug-Addicted People Results In Jail Deaths

By Austin Jenkins May 21, 2019

Jail cell in Cowlitz County, Washington. CREDIT: AUSTIN JENKINS/N3

The practice of locking up people who are chronically sick, mentally ill or drug addicted in under-resourced city, county and regional jails in Washington is resulting in inmate deaths and a failure to “treat all people humanely, respectfully, and safely,” according to a new report by the statewide nonprofit law firm Columbia Legal Services.Read More

Opioid Manufacturers Sued By Washington State Get To Keep Their Big Tax Break

By Austin Jenkins May 13, 2019

File photo. Distributors of opioids and other prescription drugs in Washington kept their better-than-Boeing tax break this year, despite a lawsuit against the industry's three largest players. CREDIT: Kevin Mooney/N3

At the same time Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson is suing three Fortune 15 pharmaceutical distributors for allegedly “fueling the state’s opioid epidemic,” majority Democrats in the Washington Legislature this year left intact a generous tax break for distributors of opioids and other prescription drugs while raising taxes on other business sectors.Read More