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During the same week that naloxone — a nasal spray that reverses opioid overdoses — became available for purchase without a prescription, the nation’s top substance use officials called for greater availability and training for the drug, with five federal officials receiving training to administer it during a public demonstration at Health and Human Services headquarters Friday. (Raman, 9/8)

The Biden administration is urging employers to keep the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone on hand, comparing it to workplaces preparing emergency plans in case of a fire. Narcan, a nasal spray version of naloxone, became available over-the-counter at major retailers for the first time this week amid record levels of overdoses from increasingly lethal forms of opioids like fentanyl. (Reed, 9/10)

The country's fentanyl crisis has become a potent political weapon, reflecting its deep and emotional impact on millions of Americans. The opioid epidemic was once a rare topic that brought Republicans and Democrats together. But even as overdose deaths continue to climb, the discourse around fentanyl has become more politicized and, at times, less aligned with reality — especially when Republicans talk about its connection to the U.S.-Mexico border. (Owens, 9/11)

One of the nation’s largest grocery chains is the latest company to agree to settle lawsuits over the U.S. opioid crisis. In a deal announced Friday, the Kroger Co. would pay up to $1.4 billion over 11 years. The amount includes up to $1.2 billion for state and local governments where it operates, $36 million to Native American tribes and about $177 million to cover lawyers’ fees and costs. (Mulvihill, 9/8)

When Jennie Burke’s 13-year-old daughter needed hernia surgery six years ago, it wasn’t the operation Burke feared — it was her daughter’s recovery from it, and whether she’d need opioids to keep the pain at bay. At the time, Burke’s brother was “hitting rock bottom” from a heroin addiction that would later kill him. Like many Americans in the early 2000s, he became addicted to opioids after being prescribed OxyContin following an appendectomy. In 2020, the year he died, 68,630 people died from opioid overdoses. (Roberts, 9/11)

Afghanistan is the world’s fastest-growing maker of methamphetamine, a report from the United Nations drug agency said Sunday. The country is also a major opium producer and heroin source, even though the Taliban declared a war on narcotics after they returned to power in August 2021. The United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crimes, which published the report, said meth in Afghanistan is mostly made from legally available substances or extracted from the ephedra plant, which grows in the wild. (Butt, 9/10)