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National
A man gets care in an ambulance after overdosing in San Francisco, California.

San Francisco's new rapid response teams race to save lives as ODs dramatically rise

Nov 03, 2021
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.
NPR

Fentanyl, Cops And Courts: How We’re Addressing The Growing Overdose Crisis

Aug 24, 2021

In the high-stakes fight against fentanyl-induced drug deaths, one remedy is fairly simple: blue and white strips of paper. Fentanyl test strips work like a pregnancy test. One line shows up if there’s fentanyl in a solution. Two lines if there’s none. But where are they needed most?

NPR
Goats and Soda
Students around the world were challenged to fight disease rumors in a 24-hour hackathon. From left: A proposed pill package featuring a Tanzanian comic character, designed by a team from Boston University. A board game to help teach kids about schistoso

Ready, Set ... Think! Hackathon Aims To Kill Off Fake Health Rumors

Jun 10, 2021
How do you fight misinformation around neglected tropical diseases? In this competition, teams of college students across the globe had 24 hours to cook up a cool plan.
NPR
The Coronavirus Crisis
Tablets believed to be laced with fentanyl are displayed at the Drug Enforcement Administration Northeast Regional Laboratory on Oct. 8, 2019, in New York. According to the DEA, one drug that remains widely available in much of the U.S. is fentanyl, a sy

Pandemic Disrupts Illegal Drug Trade, Upending Both Product And Profits

May 25, 2020
The pandemic's disruption of international labor and transportation sectors has made it harder to produce and transport illegal drugs and to send profits back across national borders.
NPR
Coronavirus Live Updates
The Food and Drug Administration has authorized two malaria — chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine — to be added to the national emergency stockpile for use in responding to COVID-19.

FDA OK's Addition To Stockpile Of Malaria Drugs For COVID-19

Mar 30, 2020
Chloroquine and hydroxycloroquine got the Food and Drug Administration's go-ahead to be put in the nation's strategic storehouses. But the drugs haven't been approved to treat coronavirus patients.
NPR
National
Main Street, St. Clairsville, Ohio (population about 5,000), the county seat of Belmont County.

Drug Overdoses Contribute To Rise In Midlife Mortality In Ohio River Valley

Dec 23, 2019
Life expectancy in the U.S. has taken a significant downward turn. This is especially true in Ohio and West Virginia, which have the highest rates of overdose deaths among people ages 25 to 64.
NPR
Goats and Soda

For HIV-Positive Babies, New Evidence Favors Starting Drug Treatment Just After Birth

Dec 04, 2019
Doctors used to worry that antiretroviral drugs were too powerful for HIV-positive newborns. More evidence is emerging that, in fact, early treatment can be safe and effective.
NPR
Health Care
Advocates for safe injection sites rallied in front of the James A Byrne Federal Courthouse in Center City to show their support for evidence-based harm reduction policies, an end to the dehumanization of people suffering from addiction and the opening o

Judge Rules Planned Supervised Injection Site Does Not Violate Federal Drug Laws

Oct 02, 2019
The federal court decision paves the way for the nation's first supervised injection site to open in Philadelphia. The Justice Department argued that it amounted to "in-your-face illegal activity."
NPR
Goats and Soda
A new study finds that drug prices can vary dramatically in the developing world, especially as a country moves up the economic ladder.

Drug Prices Can Take A Surprising Turn When A Poor Country Gets Richer

Jul 08, 2019
A new study finds that as poor countries become wealthier, it becomes harder for citizens to purchase basic medicines at affordable prices.
NPR
Goats and Soda
Immunizations are one of the most cost-effective health interventions. Yet some vaccines are too expensive to be distributed in low- and middle-income countries.

Why Astronomical Drug Prices Are Bad For Health — And Profits

Apr 12, 2019
Fatima Suleman, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences, hopes that WHO's Fair Pricing Forum can help lower drug costs — and benefit drug manufacturers.
NPR
Shots - Health News
While some new drugs entering the market are driving up prices for consumers, drug companies are also hiking prices on older drugs.

Prescription Drug Costs Driven By Manufacturer Price Hikes, Not Innovation

Jan 07, 2019
A recent study shows the cost of brand-name drugs is rising — not because of expensive new therapies entering the market but because manufacturers are raising prices on existing drugs.
KNPR
Newscast headlines

Nevada Cardiologist Pleads Guilty To Drug Distribution Count

Nov 28, 2018

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A northern Nevada cardiologist has pleaded guilty to distributing highly addictive prescription drugs to patients without a legitimate medical purpose.

NPR
Goats and Soda
A farmer picks coca leaves in a field in Colombia.

Colombia Tries To Get Farmers Out Of The Cocaine Biz. How's That Going?

Nov 24, 2018
If farmers uproot coca plants, whose leaves are used to make cocaine, the government has promised money, seeds and technology to help raise everything from peppercorns to pigs.
KNPR
Newscast headlines

Nevada Prison Inmate Guilty Of Directing Meth Business

Nov 10, 2018

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A federal jury in Reno has found a 53-year-old Nevada prison inmate guilty of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine from behind bars.

NPR
World
Jury selection began Monday in the federal trial of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, shown here in 2014.

Notorious Drug Lord 'El Chapo' Heads To Trial In New York

Nov 05, 2018
Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, the man accused of having run the world's largest drug trafficking organization, was charged in a 17-count indictment that spans decades. Jury selection began Monday.
NPR
Criminal Justice Collaborative

Bystanders To Fatal Overdoses Increasingly Becoming Criminal Defendants

Jul 02, 2018
Prosecutors in 20 states are using old laws to file homicide charges to hold family and friends accountable in opioid-related deaths. The penalty is steep and experts debate its effectiveness.
KNPR
KNPR's State of Nevada

Outlaw: George Christie's Life In The Hells Angels (And Beyond)

Jun 21, 2018

George Christie is starring in a one-man show, "Outlaw,"  based on his memoir, "Exile on Front Street: My Life as a Hells Angel and Beyond." 

NPR
Goats and Soda
Muhammad Zaman, author of the book <em>Bitter Pills: The Global War on Counterfeit Drugs,</em> in his lab at Boston University.

Fake And Faulty Drugs: A Problem No One Wants To Talk About

May 19, 2018
A new book explores why getting a properly formulated medicine is hit-or-miss in much of the developing world — and why the issue is massively underreported.
KNPR
Newscast headlines

Report: Nevada's Death Rate From Meth, Stimulants Leads US

Apr 09, 2018

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A new report indicates Nevada's amphetamine death rate is highest in the nation and soon will eclipse the state's prescription opioid death rate if current trends continue.

NPR
Shots - Health News
A spread of ointments, gauze, sterile water and other items stocked inside Prevention Point Philadelphia's mobile wound care unit.

Healing Drug Injection Wounds Can Help Get Care Closer To Patients

Mar 28, 2018
Infections from intravenous drug use are often hidden, under sleeves and beneath pants. These wounds of addiction may be buried in shame. They can also be serious, requiring surgery or constant care.
NPR
The Two-Way
The gurney in the the execution chamber at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Okla.

Oklahoma Plans To Use Nitrogen For Executions

Mar 15, 2018
After having trouble obtaining drugs needed for lethal injections, state officials plan to change the primary method of execution to nitrogen gas inhalation. It would be a first for a U.S. state.
NPR
Shots - Health News
Drug lobbyists and consumer health advocates fill the halls of the state Capitol in September to see how Assembly members vote on a controversial drug price transparency bill.

California Bill Would Compel Drugmakers To Justify Price Hikes

Oct 04, 2017
A bill passed by the California Legislature requires drugmakers to give 60 days' notice before raising a drug's price by 16 percent or more over two years, and to justify the price increase.
NPR
The Two-Way
The haul seized by police in Osnabrück, Germany, together with the cash they found in the car Saturday night.

Redefining 'Drug Bust': German Police Seize 5,000 Pills In Shape Of Trump's Head

Aug 22, 2017
When officers stopped a vehicle Saturday night, they didn't quite expect to find heaps of drugs hidden inside. They expected still less to find the ecstasy pills stamped with a familiar face.
NPR
The Two-Way
Manila Archbishop Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle arrives at the Synod Hall on Oct. 8, 2014, in Vatican City, Vatican. Tagle has called for an end to the bloody war on drugs in the Philippines.

Church Leaders In Philippines Condemn Bloody War On Drugs

Aug 20, 2017
Manila's cardinal and another senior cleric have harshly criticized what human rights groups call extrajudicial killings that have claimed more than 5,000 lives in the past 14 months.
NPR
Shots - Health News
After a briefing on the opioid crisis with Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, President Trump remarked on the severity of the epidemic but did not declare a national emergency, as his commission on opioids had recommended.

Some States Say Declaring An Emergency Has Helped In The Opioid Fight

Aug 09, 2017
Arizona is among the states that have declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency, to help with funding and access to data. It's a move the Trump administration has declined to make.

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