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The number of prescription opioid pain pills shipped in the United States plummeted nearly 45 percent between 2011 and 2019, new federal data shows, even as fatal overdoses rose to record levels as users increasingly used heroin, and then illegal fentanyl. The data confirms what’s long been known about the arc of the nation’s addiction crisis: Users first got hooked by pain pills saturating the nation, then turned to cheaper and more readily available street drugs after law-enforcement crackdowns, public outcry and changes in how the medical community views prescribing opioids to treat pain. (Rich and Ovalle, 9/12)

The data showed how doctors were prescribing more powerful pills, even as the deaths added up. And it showed just how pervasive the drugs were: Each year, drug companies were shipping enough pills for everyone living in some counties — mostly in Appalachia — to have more than a 100-day supply. The newly released data is the first deep look at what happened with prescription drug shipments later in the 2010s. But the story of the overdose crisis from that time forward is well documented and dire. (Mulvihill, 9/12)

A federal appeals court weighing whether to uphold a $650 million judgment against pharmacy operators CVS, Walmart and Walgreens for fueling the opioid epidemic in parts of Ohio has asked the state's highest court to weigh in first. The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday said that the pharmacies' appeal of the judgment won by two Ohio counties raised "novel and unresolved questions" of whether state law permits the public-nuisance claim the case was centered on. (Raymond, 9/12)

Birmingham, Ala., is seeing a high rate of overdose deaths and addiction among Black men. Officials blame fentanyl and a lack of addiction treatment. (Hodgin and Short, 9/13)

Â鶹ŮÓÅ Health News: Despite Successes, Addiction Treatment Programs For Families Struggle To Stay Open 

Two playgrounds border the Recovering Hope Treatment Center for addiction that sits at the end of a gravel road in eastern Minnesota’s rural Kanabec County. A meeting room inside is furnished with rocking chairs and baby walkers. And there are strollers in the halls. Recovering Hope is one of only five providers in the state that offer family-based residential treatment, allowing women to enter the program while pregnant or to bring one of their children younger than 5 with them for the duration of their stay. Men can receive outpatient treatment but aren’t permitted in the residential program. (Saint Louis, 9/13)

Â鶹ŮÓÅ Health News: Listen To The Latest 'Â鶹ŮÓÅ Health News Minute' 

This week on the Â鶹ŮÓÅ Health News Minute: Doctors and patients turn to social media to shame insurers into paying for care, and artificial intelligence designed to prevent opioid misuse may be denying pain medication for patients who need it. (9/12)