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The Department of Veterans Affairs is doling out narcotics to 160,000 fewer veterans than it was three years ago, a reduction of nearly 25 percent, and alternative treatments are on the rise. Government prescription data also shows that the number of veterans receiving prescriptions for both a narcotic and a tranquilizer, a combination that often leads to overdose, has been cut in half. Although some veterans complain that the alternatives remain sparse, experts say the change – which followed a 2013 investigation by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting – is likely saving lives. (Glantz, 10/26)

Two senators asked Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch Wednesday to explain a sharp drop in the number of enforcement actions against large pharmaceutical distributors and others by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) requested a wide variety of information about cases brought by DEA’s Diversion Control Division in the wake of a Washington Post investigation published over the weekend. (Higham and Bernstein, 10/26)