Tag Archives: Opioids

More addiction patients can take methadone at home, but some states lag behind

Matt Haney’s home in San Francisco isn’t far from a methadone clinic. The 42-year-old state lawmaker has watched people line up early each morning outside the clinic in the Tenderloin, a community long considered the epicenter of the city’s substance use epidemic. His neighbors wait for the daily dose of methadone that relieves their cravings […]
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OHSU study finds big jump in addiction treatment at community health clinics

Rural impact is particularly significant; findings provide glimmer of hope in ongoing opioid crisis. The number of health care professionals able to write a prescription for a key medication to treat addiction quadrupled at community health clinics from 2016 to 2021, according to a new study by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University. The […]
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Why opioid settlement money is paying county employees’ salaries

State Library Ed. Note: If you cannot access this story via the link below, state employees can access this Washington Post story HERE via the State Library’s subscription to the US Newstream database. Alternatively, state employees can contact us for access: LibraryHelp.SLO@slo.oregon.gov or 503-378-8800. Some state and local governments are using opioid settlements to buoy their budgets. Billions of dollars in […]
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Swap funds or add services? Use of opioid settlement cash sparks strong disagreements

State and local governments are receiving billions of dollars in opioid settlements to address the drug crisis that has ravaged America for decades. But instead of spending the money on new addiction treatment and prevention services they couldn’t afford before, some jurisdictions are using it to replace existing funding and stretch tight budgets. Source: Swap […]
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Editorial: Oregon may need to change opioid prescriptions | Opinion |

Oregon has enough problems with opioids without people becoming addicted from a doctor’s prescription. It is how some people get hooked. It might be anywhere from 3% to 19% of people who take prescription pain medications become addicted, according to the American Medical Association. State Rep. Emerson Levy, D-Bend, told us after the legislative session […]
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Here comes an illicit drug 40 times more potent than fentanyl

The Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office found that nitazenes, a synthetic opioid up to 40 times more powerful than fentanyl, were connected to at least five overdose deaths in Philadelphia in the past two years. The nitazene deaths are just a small part of a much bigger problem. A record 1,413 people died from overdoses on […]
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Inslee signs bills fighting opioid epidemic

New Washington laws seek to expand access to treatment services and recovery support, increase education on opioid risks, and build emergency response capacity. Two bills also require schools to carry naloxone, an overdose reversal medication. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday signed a suite of bills meant to combat the state’s opioid and fentanyl epidemic. […]
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A Doctor Banned From Prescribing Opioids in Washington Opens a Psilocybin Therapy Center in Oregon

At first glance, Dr. Frank Li’s history suggests he’s the last person who should be allowed to open a psilocybin service center, where people go to take the legal psychedelic mushroom trips that became available in Oregon last summer. Li ran a chain of pain clinics in the state of Washington until 2016, when state […]
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Inslee signs bills fighting opioid epidemic

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday signed a suite of bills meant to combat the state’s opioid and fentanyl epidemic. “Fentanyl is a scourge in the state of Washington,” Inslee said. “It is the nuclear weapon of opiates.” The bills seek to expand access to treatment services and recovery support, increase education on opioid risks, […]
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Oregon’s opioid crisis: Why the state is going to recriminalize all drugs, including psychedelics like LSD, MDMA, and ketamine

Four years ago, the state decriminalized all drugs. Now it’s trying to course-correct — and might make a mistake in the process. In 2020, it looked as though the war on drugs would begin to end in Oregon. After Measure 110 was passed that year, Oregon became the first state in the US to decriminalize […]
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