Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
FDA Set To Unveil Next Steps Against Dangerous Synthetic Kratom
Health officials plan to announce measures Tuesday to crack down on an opioid-like substance found in tablets, gummies and drinkable shots commonly sold in convenience stores. The Department of Health and Human Services said in an advisory that it is targeting potentially dangerous products made of 7-OH, a potent substance synthesized from a compound in the kratom leaf, which grows on trees native to Southeast Asia. The Food and Drug Administration, researchers and kratom companies have grown increasingly alarmed by the rise of 7-OH products they say are distinct from all-natural plant teas and powders. (Ovalle, 7/29)
President Trump is threatening to withhold funds from supervised drug consumption sites and potentially pursue criminal penalties against them, offering his clearest stance yet against the philosophy of harm reduction and marking a significant escalation of his rhetoric on substance use and addiction. (Facher, 7/25)
Also —
Beginning in August 2023, drug overdose deaths declined for 15 consecutive months, according to research published in JAMA. Using data from the National Center for Health Statistics and the Census Bureau, the analysis of drug overdose death rates was conducted from January 2015 to October 2024. Over 800,000 United States residents — 68 percent of them male with a median age of 42 — died of a drug overdose during the study period. (McMahan, 7/28)
Some wise counsel in advance can reduce the amount of opioid painkillers a patient takes after orthopedic surgery, new clinic trial results show. Knee surgery patients were much less likely to take oxycodone if they were counseled to pop the pills as a "last resort" if pain becomes unbearable, researchers report in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. (Thompson, 7/28)
Nicotine vaping has increased slightly over the past few years in the U.S., while binge drinking and heavy alcohol use were both slightly down, according to a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The percentage of people ages 12 years and older who said they had vaped nicotine in the past month increased from 8.3% in 2022 to 9.6% in 2024, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). (Frieden, 7/28)
