The United States, especially West Virginia, is seeing significant increases in drug addiction and overdose deaths while at the same time battling the COVID-19 pandemic. Preliminary CDC data show that more than 90,000 Americans died from drug overdose deaths from October 2019 to September 2020, a nearly 30% increase from the previous year. The Substance Abuse and …Read More
By Brian Skinner, Esq. The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that more than 200 drug and health-focused groups are urging the incoming Biden administration to address opioid abuse and end the drug war. The letter calls on the incoming administration to take bold, decisive, evidence-based action that shifts the government’s response to substance use. The The …Read More
By Brian Skinner, Esq. A new report from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health offers recommendations aimed at federal, state, and local policymakers to address the opioid epidemic during the pandemic, which has seen sharp increases in fatal and nonfatal overdoses. The report “Saving Lives From Overdose During a Pandemic” draws from …Read More
By Brian Skinner, Esq. An increasing number of reports in the national, state and local media suggests an upsurge in opioid- and other drug-related mortality—particularly from illicitly manufactured fentanyl and fentanyl analogs. Although nationwide data is incomplete, the data that is available suggests drug overdose deaths are on track to reach an all-time high. Prior to the arrival …Read More
Route Fifty — By Kate Elizabeth Queram – October 14, 2020 A statewide project in Connecticut takes reports of suspected opioid overdoses from first responders and maps them in real time, helping community partners better direct their services to high-risk areas. Read more . . .
Route Fifty – – By Markian Hawryluk – – September 28, 2020 STERLING, Colo. — Tonja Jimenez is far from the only person driving an RV down Colorado’s rural highways. But unlike the other rigs, her 34-foot-long motor home is equipped as an addiction treatment clinic on wheels, bringing lifesaving treatment to the northeastern corner of the state, …Read More
By Brian Skinner, Esq. As the opioid-related overdose epidemic continues to escalate in West Virginia and the nation, timely access to Food & Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medications for the treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) is more important than ever. Evidence shows that medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for OUD saves lives and helps people maintain …Read More
By Brian Skinner, Esq. This week a federal appeals court granted New York permission to implement an opioid tax on the manufacturers and distributors of prescription painkillers in a ruling that will enable the state to collect hundreds of millions of dollars. In 2018, New York approved the Opioid Stewardship Act which required all …Read More
By Brian Skinner, Esq. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), via the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), today announced that it has awarded approximately $25 million to 80 award recipients across 36 states and two territories as part of the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP). RCORP is a multi-year HRSA initiative …Read More