Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Fishermen, In A Job That Takes A Toll On The Body, Hit Hard By Opioid Crisis
Some fishermen link that reputation to a rugged cowboy culture; others to the pain medication taken by men and women whose bodies are battered by the job. But now, as opioid deaths rise relentlessly in Massachusetts, fishing captains from Cape Ann to Buzzards Bay are beginning to stock their boats with naloxone, a drug that reverses overdoses and is commonly sold under the trademark Narcan. (MacQuarrie, 4/17)
By the end of May, Las Vegas will have debuted three new vending machines that dispense clean needles. They hope to keep drug users who get their fix via syringe from contracting diseases by reusing needles that could carry bloodborne infections. (Welsh, 4/17)
An Ohio man who sold heroin laced with an elephant tranquilizer that caused more than two dozen overdoses in West Virginia was sentenced to more than 18 years in federal prison Monday. Bruce Lamar Griggs, of Akron, was "in this just for the money" when he sold the heroin mixture that sickened 28 people on Aug. 15 in Huntington, U.S. District Judge Robert Chambers said. (4/17)
In other news on the epidemic聽鈥
Hannah Berkowitz is 20 years old. When she was a senior in high school her life flew off the rails. She was getting high on whatever drugs she could get her hands on. She was suicidal. Berkowitz moved into a therapeutic boarding school to get sober, but could only stay sober while she was on campus during the week. (Rodolico, 4/17)
Americans think it鈥檚 safer to use marijuana than opioids to relieve pain, but they were less comfortable with children and pregnant women using pot to treat medical conditions, according to a new Yahoo/Marist poll released Monday. Two-thirds of the respondents in the telephone survey said opioid drugs such as Vicodin or OxyContin are 鈥渞iskier鈥 to use than pot, even when the pain pills are prescribed by a doctor. (Wyatt, 4/17)
With the approval聽this month of two drugs to treat hepatitis C in children, these often overlooked victims of the opioid epidemic have a better chance at a cure. Kids may have an easier time than adults getting treatment approved, some experts say. Medicaid programs and private insurers have often balked at paying for the pricey drugs for adults, but stricter Medicaid guidelines for kids may make coverage more routine. (Andrews, 4/18)
