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☆ Overdose or Poisoning? A New Debate Over What to Call a Drug Death.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-11 | by ( Jan Hoffman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The death certificate for Ryan Bagwell, a 19-year-old from Mission, Texas, states that he died from a fentanyl overdose. A federal law enforcement lab found that none of the pills from the bottle tested positive for Percocet. But they all tested positive for lethal quantities of fentanyl. As millions of fentanyl-tainted pills inundate the United States masquerading as common medications, grief-scarred families have been pressing for a change in the language used to describe drug deaths. They want public health leaders, prosecutors and politicians to use “poisoning” instead of “overdose.” In their view, “overdose” suggests that their loved ones were addicted and responsible for their own deaths, whereas “poisoning” shows they were victims.

Persons: Ryan Bagwell, Sandra Bagwell, “ Ryan, ” Mrs . Bagwell, ” Locations: Mission , Texas, United States

☆ Alabama Bill to Protect I.V.F. Will Reopen Clinics but Curb Patient Rights
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Jan Hoffman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Alabama legislature on Wednesday is expected to pass legislation that will make it possible for fertility clinics in the state to reopen without the specter of crippling lawsuits. But the measure, hastily written and expected to pass by a huge bipartisan margin, does not address the legal question that led to clinic closings and set off a stormy, politically fraught national debate: Whether embryos that have been frozen and stored for possible future implantation have the legal status of human beings. The Alabama Supreme Court made such a finding last month, in the context of a claim against a Mobile clinic brought by three couples whose frozen embryos were inadvertently destroyed. The court ruled that, under Alabama law, those embryos should be regarded as people, and that the couples were entitled to punitive damages for the wrongful death of a child. Legal experts said the bill, which Governor Kay Ivey has signaled she will sign, would be the first in the country to create a legal moat around embryos, blocking lawsuits or prosecutions if they are damaged or destroyed.

Persons: Kay Ivey Organizations: Alabama Supreme Locations: Alabama

☆ Alcohol-Related Deaths Surge to Nearly 500 a Day, C.D.C. Says
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Christina Jewett | Jan Hoffman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The Latest NewsAlcohol-related deaths surged in the United States by nearly 30 percent in recent years, with roughly 500 Americans dying each day in 2021, according to a new study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study chronicled a sustained spike in drinking during the Covid pandemic that continued to rise after the shock of the lockdowns of 2020. The incidence of alcohol-related deaths was higher in men, but among women the death rate shot up at a quicker pace. “I think the results of this research are really alarming,” said Dr. Michael Siegel, who is a professor of public health at Tufts University School of Medicine and was not involved in the study. “It shows that there’s been a truly substantial increase in alcohol-related deaths over the last six years.”

Persons: ”, Michael Siegel, there’s Organizations: Centers for Disease Control, Tufts University School of Medicine Locations: United States

Attacks on ships in the Red Sea are delivering another shock to global trade, coming on top of pandemic-related logjams at ports and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The normal route — three weeks via the Suez Canal — has been shut down by the Houthi attacks. Chief executive Stuart Machin said the Red Sea trouble was “impacting everyone and something we’re very focused on." For Europe, the impact is even bigger: 40% of clothes and 50% of shoes traverse the Red Sea. Norwegian fertilizer giant Yara said it was “only mildly impacted by the transit challenges in the Red Sea."

Persons: What’s, Ryan Petersen, Petersen, It’s, Clifton Broumand, Broumand, —, ”, “, it’s, Tesla, Spencer, Stuart Machin, Steve Lamar, Lamar, Flexport, Katheryn Russ, Davis, Judah Levine, Freightos, it's, Russ, Obama, Carlos Tavares, Stellantis, Jan Hoffmann, Frank Conforti, Conforti, ____ Anderson, Kelvin Chan, Anne D'Innocenzio, Yuri Kageyama, Tom Krisher, David McHugh Organizations: WASHINGTON, —, Hamas, Machine, Volvo, Suzuki Motor Corp, American Apparel & Footwear Association, University of California, U.S . Federal Reserve, BMW, Retailer, Free People, AP Business Locations: Belgium, Germany, British, Maryland, Asia, Ukraine, Yemen, Gaza, Europe, United States, Suez, Africa, “, Panama, Greater Landover , Maryland, Taiwan, China, Los Angeles, Berlin, Swedish, Ghent, Hungary, Japan, U.S, overcapacity, Red, Israel, India, New York, London, Tokyo, Detroit, Frankfurt

☆ Attacks on ships in the Red Sea are disrupting global trade. Here’s how it could affect what you buy
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-28 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Attacks on ships in the Red Sea are delivering another shock to global trade, coming on top of pandemic-related logjams at ports and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The normal route — three weeks via the Suez Canal — has been shut down by the Houthi attacks. Chief executive Stuart Machin said the Red Sea trouble was "impacting everyone and something we're very focused on." For Europe, the impact is even bigger: 40% of clothes and 50% of shoes traverse the Red Sea. Norwegian fertilizer giant Yara said it was "only mildly impacted by the transit challenges in the Red Sea."

Persons: It's, Petersen, Ryan Petersen, Clifton Broumand, Broumand, it's, Tesla, Spencer, Stuart Machin, Steve Lamar, Lamar, Flexport, Katheryn Russ, Davis, Judah Levine, Freightos, Russ, Obama, Carlos Tavares, Stellantis, Jan Hoffmann, Frank Conforti, Conforti Organizations: Galaxy, Houthis Media, Getty, Machine, Hamas, Volvo, Suzuki Motor Corp, American Apparel & Footwear Association, University of California, U.S . Federal Reserve, BMW, Retailer Urban Outfitters, Free People Locations: Iran, Yemen, Anadolu, Greater Landover , Maryland, Taiwan, China, Gaza, Panama, Asia, Europe, United States, Suez, Africa, Ukraine, Belgium, Germany, British, Maryland, Los Angeles, Berlin, Swedish, Ghent, Hungary, Japan, U.S, overcapacity, Red, Israel, India

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. trade body sounded an alarm Thursday that global trade is being disrupted by attacks in the Red Sea, the war in Ukraine, and low water levels in the Panama Canal. Since November, the Iranian-backed Houthis have launched at least 34 attacks on shipping through the waterways leading to the Suez Canal. Total transits through the Panama Canal in December were 36% lower than a year ago, and 62% lower than two years ago, Hoffmann said. Hoffmann said ships transporting liquified natural gas have stopped transiting the Suez Canal altogether because of fears of an attack. “Here you see the global impact of the crisis, as ships are seeking alternative routes, avoiding the Suez and the Panama Canal,” Hoffmann said.

Persons: Jan Hoffmann, Yemen’s Houthi, Hoffmann, Yemen’s, ” Hoffmann Organizations: UNITED NATIONS, United Nations Conference, Trade, UNCTAD, Suez, U.N, Ships Locations: Red, Ukraine, Panama, Suez, Asia, Europe, Iranian, Saudi, Israel, United States, Britain, Geneva, Russia, East Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Hope, Africa, Shanghai, U.S

☆ Fate of Billions for Opioid Victims From Sacklers Rests With Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-03 | by ( Jan Hoffman | More About Jan Hoffman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The speed with which the court scheduled the case may reflect its awareness of the opioid problem. The court, they said, will focus narrowly on the liability shield, an increasingly popular, though contentious, bankruptcy tactic. “I’m sure, though, that even if the opioid crisis doesn’t show up anywhere in the opinion, the court has to be bearing in mind that cities, states and individuals have been desperately waiting for these funds. Though numerous pharmaceutical companies have been sued for their roles in the opioid epidemic, the Sacklers and Purdue loom large in the story of the complex, decades-old crisis. The steep fines did little to deter Purdue from continuing to aggressively market OxyContin.

Persons: ”, Adam Zimmerman, OxyContin Organizations: University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law, Purdue, Food and Drug Administration, Sackler

Kalamazoo, a small city in Western Michigan, is a way station along the drug trafficking corridor between Chicago and Detroit. In its parks, under railroad overpasses and here in the woods, people ensnared by drugs scramble to survive. Dr. Helmstetter, who makes weekly primary care rounds with a program called Street Medicine Kalamazoo, carried medications to reverse overdoses, blunt cravings and ease withdrawal-induced nausea. Rachel, 35, her hair dyed a silvery lavender, ran to greet Dr. Helmstetter. She takes the medicine buprenorphine, which acts to dull her body’s yearning for opioids, but she was not ready to let go of meth.

Persons: Nic Helmstetter, Helmstetter, Rachel Organizations: Medicine Locations: Kalamazoo, Western Michigan, Chicago, Detroit, Medicine Kalamazoo

☆ America’s Other Drug Problem
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( German Lopez | More About German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When political leaders talk about America’s current drug crisis, they are typically referring to opioids like painkillers, heroin and fentanyl. And when they have passed laws to deal with the problem in the past decade, those policies have centered on opioids. They have, for example, focused on boosting access to medications that treat only opioid addiction or reverse only opioid overdoses. These types of problems are why experts have long urged policymakers to take a comprehensive approach to drug addiction. More support for opioid addiction medications is important, but so is funding underused treatments that address meth and cocaine addiction (such as paying people to stop using drugs).

Persons: Jan Hoffman, Jan, dumpsters

☆ Kroger Agrees to Pay $1.2 Billion to Settle Opioid Claims
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Rebecca Robbins | More About Rebecca Robbins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Background: Pharmacy chains have been settling opioid claims. Three large pharmacy chains that compete with Kroger — Walgreens, CVS Health and Walmart — reached similar settlements last year totaling about $13 billion. The claims against Kroger and its competitors have focused on the role of their pharmacies in flooding communities with legal painkillers. Why It Matters: Opioid settlement money is funding recovery efforts. Kroger said on Friday that the opioid settlement agreement would not impede the merger.

Persons: Kroger, Walmart —, overprescribing, Josh Stein, ”, Harris, Jan Hoffman Organizations: Kroger, Walgreens, CVS Health, Walmart, Rite, Albertsons Locations: Washington State, West Virginia, North Carolina

Narcan, the first opioid overdose reversal medication approved for over-the-counter purchase, is being shipped to drugstore and grocery chains nationwide, its manufacturer said Wednesday. Big-box outlets like Walgreens, CVS, Walmart and Rite Aid said they expected Narcan to be available online and on many store shelves early next week. There were more than 100,000 opioid overdose fatalities in each of the last two years in the United States. Narcan is already a staple for emergency personnel and street outreach teams. Now scientists and health officials are hoping Narcan will eventually become commonplace in public libraries, subways, dorms, corner delis and street vending machines.

Persons: Narcan Organizations: CVS, Walmart, Rite Aid Locations: United States

☆ Opioid Settlement Money Is Being Spent on Police Cars and Overtime
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Jan Hoffman | More About Jan Hoffman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

States and local governments are designating millions of dollars for overdose reversal drugs, addiction treatment medication, and wound care vans for people with infections from injecting drugs. But law enforcement departments are receiving opioid settlement money for policing resources like new cruisers, overtime pay for narcotics investigators, phone-hacking equipment, body scanners to detect drugs on inmates and restraint devices. “I have a great deal of ambivalence towards the use of the opioid money for that purpose,” said Chester Cedars, chairman of Louisiana’s advisory opioid task force and president of St. Martin Parish. The state’s directives say only “law enforcement expenditures related to the opioid epidemic,” added Mr. Cedars, a retired prosecutor. “That is wide open as to what that exactly means.”

Persons: ”, Chester Cedars, Martin Parish Organizations: St Locations: Chester, Martin

☆ Should Opioid Settlement Money Be Spent on Law Enforcement?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Jan Hoffman | More About Jan Hoffman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But though the payments come with stacks of guidance outlining core strategies for drug prevention and addiction treatment, the first wave of awards is setting off heated debates over the best use of the money, including the role that law enforcement should play in grappling with a public health disaster. States and local governments are designating millions of dollars for overdose reversal drugs, addiction treatment medication, and wound care vans for people with infections from injecting drugs. But law enforcement departments are receiving opioid settlement money for policing resources like new cruisers, overtime pay for narcotics investigators, phone-hacking equipment, body scanners to detect drugs on inmates and restraint devices. “I have a great deal of ambivalence towards the use of the opioid money for that purpose,” said Chester Cedars, chairman of Louisiana’s advisory opioid task force and president of St. Martin Parish. The state’s directives say only “law enforcement expenditures related to the opioid epidemic,” added Mr. Cedars, a retired prosecutor.

Persons: ”, Chester Cedars, Martin Parish Organizations: St Locations: Chester, Martin

The settlement involving Purdue, the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, touches on one of the country’s largest public health crises. Experts say the decision may also have important consequences for other cases that use the bankruptcy system to settle claims of mass injuries. Here’s what you need to know about the court’s decision:Why did the Supreme Court decide to weigh in? It’s rare for the Supreme Court to agree to hear a bankruptcy court dispute, experts say, especially one dealing with a settlement agreement in a mass-injury case. Trustee Program, a watchdog office within the Justice Department, that petitioned the Supreme Court to review the deal.

Persons: Sackler Organizations: Supreme, Purdue Pharma, Purdue, U.S ., Justice Department Locations: U.S

☆ Oregon’s Hard-Drug Decriminalization Policy Is a Disaster - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

How soon is too soon to call a progressive and libertarian policy obsession a public policy fiasco? In the case of Oregon’s Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act, better known as Measure 110, the moment can’t come soon enough. The Drug Policy Alliance, which spent millions to help pass the measure, called it “the biggest blow to the drug war to date” and celebrated its supposed success in a slick video. “Often, she says, someone is passed out in front of the lobby’s door, blocking her entrance. The other day, a man lurched in, lay down on a Forte couch, stripped off his shirt and shoes and refused to leave.”

Persons: “, Jennifer Myrle, Jan Hoffman, Jordan Gale, ” Organizations: Drug Policy Alliance, Forte Portland Locations: Oregon, Forte

For the past two and a half years, Oregon has been trying an unusual experiment to stem soaring rates of addiction and overdose deaths. The aim is to reserve prosecutions for large-scale dealers and address addiction primarily as a public health emergency. But its street population was growing, especially after the anti-police protests that had spread around the country that summer. Since then, Oregon’s overdose rates have only grown. Some politicians and community groups are calling for Measure 110 to be replaced with tough fentanyl possession laws.

Organizations: Oregon voters Locations: Oregon, Portland

☆ Harsh New Fentanyl Laws Ignite Debate Over How to Combat Overdose Crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Jan Hoffman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Three teenage girls were found slumped in a car in the parking lot of a rural Tennessee high school last month, hours before graduation ceremonies. Two were dead from fentanyl overdoses. The third, a 17-year-old, was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Two days later, she was charged with the girls’ murders. Prosecutors cited a Tennessee law that permits homicide charges to be brought against someone who gives fentanyl to a person who dies from it.

Persons: Prosecutors, ”, Mark E, Davidson Locations: Tennessee, Fayette County, Tenn

☆ Indigenous Leaders Elated by Supreme Court Ruling on Adoptions
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Simon Romero | Jan Hoffman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Maryanna Harstad was stunned and then elated when she heard that the Supreme Court had upheld a law on Thursday aimed at keeping Native American adoptees with their tribes and traditions. Adopted herself by a white family nearly two decades before the law was passed in 1978, she was worried about the effect that overturning it could have had on Native children. “You always feel that you’re kind of this impersonator,” Ms. Harstad, 63, an enrolled member of the Leech Lake Band of the Minnesota Ojibwe and a descendant of the Blackfeet Nation of Montana, said about learning about her culture later in life. She knew very little about her heritage until she majored in American Indian Studies in college, and has since met her biological family and volunteered extensively with many Indigenous groups in Minneapolis. She is now a program director for Gichitwaa Kateri, a Native American Roman Catholic Church in Minneapolis.

Persons: Maryanna, “, ” Ms, Gichitwaa Kateri Organizations: Blackfeet, Indian Studies, American Roman Catholic Church Locations: Maryanna Harstad, Harstad, Minnesota, of Montana, Minneapolis, American

☆ An Appeals Court Gave the Sacklers Legal Immunity. Here’s What the Ruling Means.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Jan Hoffman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In exchange, they have agreed to make payments of up to $6 billion to thousands of plaintiffs in now-suspended lawsuits. The ruling was part of a court review of a bankruptcy restructuring plan for Purdue, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in September 2019. Companies in bankruptcy customarily get protection from legal claims; owners who have not filed for personal bankruptcy usually do not. When the company filed for bankruptcy, the Sacklers faced about 400 lawsuits over their role in Purdue’s opioid business. Legal experts say that the ruling, by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, has implications for the Purdue case specifically and for owners of companies seeking bankruptcy generally.

Persons: Sackler Organizations: Purdue Pharma, Purdue, Companies, United States, Appeals, Second Circuit

☆ Sacklers Can Be Shielded From Opioid Liability, Appeals Court Rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Jan Hoffman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Members of the Sackler family, the billionaire owners of Purdue Pharma, will receive full immunity from all civil legal claims — current and future — over their role in the company’s prescription opioids business, a federal appeals court panel ruled on Tuesday. The ruling gives the family the sweeping protection that it has been demanding for years, in exchange for payment of up to $6 billion of the family’s fortune to help address the ongoing ravages of the opioid crisis. It removes a major hurdle for that money, plus the company’s initial outlay of $500 million, to be dispensed to states and communities for addiction treatment and prevention programs, needs that soared during an epidemic that has grown far beyond abuse of Purdue’s signature prescription painkiller drug, OxyContin. Unless it is successfully appealed to the Supreme Court — an unlikely prospect, legal experts said — the new ruling will close the door on Purdue’s hotly contested bankruptcy restructuring, which began nearly four years ago. The bankruptcy is at the core of a plan intended to resolve thousands of opioid cases against the company nationwide, plus roughly 400 against individual Sackler family members.

Persons: Sackler Organizations: Purdue Pharma

☆ Addiction Treatment Medicine Is Vastly Underprescribed, Especially by Race, Study Finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Jan Hoffman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Despite the continuing rise in opioid overdose deaths, one of the most effective treatments for opioid addiction is still drastically underprescribed in the United States, especially for Black patients, according to a large new study. Within six months following a high-risk event like an overdose, white patients filled buprenorphine prescriptions up to 80 percent more often than Black patients, and up to 25 percent more often than Latino patients, the study found. Rates of use for methadone, another effective treatment, were generally even lower. Noting that all the patients regardless of race encountered doctors roughly once a month, he said, “There are two mechanisms left that could explain disparities this large. One is where people of color get their health care, which we know is highly segregated, and another is racial differences in patient trust and demand for buprenorphine.“

In the face of an escalating opioid epidemic, the F.D.A. recently approved over-the-counter sales for Narcan — a lifesaving nasal spray that can reverse an opioid overdose. Jan Hoffman, who covers health law for The Times, explains why the new availability of Narcan could change the trajectory of the epidemic.

☆ The Fight Over a Drug That Is Great for Horses but Horrific for Humans
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Jan Hoffman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, where the Philadelphia neighborhood of Kensington is ground zero for tranq dope, announced that his administration was doing so. Since then, it has been used for procedures on sheep, deer, elk and even cats and dogs, as well as on horses and cattle. Earlier trials in humans had been shut down because the drug led to respiratory depression, so manufacturers never sought approval for human use. And unlike the protocols for opioids, those for reversing tranq dope withdrawal or managing rehabilitation have not been standardized. Schedule III includes buprenorphine and the anticonvulsant drug gabapentin.

☆ Four bankers who helped Putin’s friend set up Swiss bank account convicted
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Four bankers who helped a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin move millions of dollars through Swiss bank accounts have been convicted of failing to perform due diligence in financial transactions. The executives — three Russians and one Swiss — helped Roldugin, who is godfather to Putin’s eldest daughter, Maria, deposit millions of francs in Swiss bank accounts between 2014 and 2016. The men, who cannot be identified under Swiss reporting restrictions, were found guilty at a hearing at Zurich District Court and were given fines totaling 741,000 Swiss francs ($809,000). Red flagsFurther investigations should have been conducted because of the amount of assets involved, which was more than 10 million Swiss francs ($11 million), the judge said. Sums of around 30 million Swiss francs ($31.84 million) were involved in the case, Hoffmann told an earlier hearing.

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