Rigid rules at methadone clinics are jeopardizing patients’ path to recovery from opioid addiction
DETROIT — Every morning, Rebecca Smith, nursing a surgically repaired knee, carefully walks down the…
Category: addiction
STAT+: New methadone rules are about to take effect. Here are 6 ways treatment could shift
The federal government is reforming methadone care for the first time in over two decades….
Listen: VC turmoil, GLP-1 competition, & the war on recovery
Why are addiction treatments so hard to get? Can small companies compete in obesity? And…
How the U.S. is sabotaging its best tools to prevent deaths in the opioid epidemic
The opioid overdose epidemic has burned through the U.S. for nearly 30 years. Yet for…
Watch: Why fentanyl withdrawal is agony and how medication can prevent it
Over 2 million Americans have opioid use disorder, according to some estimates. Illicit opioids such…
STAT+: Q&A: Nora Volkow on how to get ‘at least 50% less people dying’ from opioid overdose
In 2003, the year Nora Volkow was appointed director of the National Institute on Drug…
STAT+: Opioid cravings were reduced by anti-obesity drug in small study
DENVER — The GLP-1 medication liraglutide significantly reduced opioid cravings in a small analysis presented on…
More people die after smoking drugs than injecting them, study finds
NEW YORK — Smoking has surpassed injecting as the most common way of taking drugs…
Opinion: Former U.S. surgeons general: The U.S. should ban menthol cigarettes
As former U.S. surgeons general, we call on the Biden administration to immediately finalize Food…
Higher naloxone doses have no impact on overdose survival, study shows
People receiving a double dose of naloxone are no more likely to survive an opioid…
STAT+: Years into an addiction crisis, a med school lecture still minimized opioid risks
Amid ongoing concern over opioid addiction, a university in Florida has been criticized for allowing…
Methadone treatment gets first major update in over 20 years
The federal government is unveiling new regulations meant to modernize methadone treatment, the first major…
Pfizer’s reset year starts with a little profit
Want to stay on top of the science and politics driving biotech today? Sign up to get…
Zyn scrutiny from Sen. Chuck Schumer prompts an unlikely culture war
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wants the federal government to investigate Zyn nicotine pouches….
Opinion: Sen. Maggie Hassan on what Congress must do next to fight the opioid crisis
Few public health challenges have been more daunting and persistent than the opioid crisis, which…
Opinion: Providers shouldn’t be afraid of buprenorphine for opioid use disorder making it into the hands of someone without a prescription
In December 2022, Congress repealed the “X-waiver” requirement, which had limited medical providers’ ability to…
STAT+: FDA is blasted by advocates for pursuing a deal with data provider that has ties to opioid makers
Several advocacy groups are blasting a Food and Drug Administration proposal to work with a…
How opioid overdoses in public restrooms led an electrician to invent ‘safe bathrooms’
First, a light starts to flash. Then a high-pitched siren starts to blare. Then come…
Opinion: Buprenorphine, autism diagnoses, and long Covid: the most-read First Opinion essays of 2023
In a year of abortion restrictions, biotech industry upheaval, and revolutionary drug approvals, First Opinion…
Fights over methadone, harm reduction, and more: 3 addiction stories to watch in 2024
The U.S. drug crisis is as bad as it’s ever been, and there are few…
We wish we’d written that: STAT staffers share their favorite stories of 2023
It’s time to take stock of the year that was in health and science: the…
Opinion: The U.S. must raise federal alcohol taxes to address the alarming rise in alcohol use
Eleven years ago, two days before Christmas, my 24-year-old brother, who was a university graduate…
Opinion: Sobering centers offer a safe place to recover from intoxication. Every community should have one
Every day, thousands of individuals across the United States call 911 due to concern about…
Morning Rounds: Can you take GLP-1 drugs during pregnancy?
Understand how science, health policy, and medicine shape the world everyday. Sign up for our…
Methadone clinics spar with addiction doctors on bill that would widen access
Lawmakers on Tuesday will debate an addiction medicine proposal that would have been considered unthinkable…
Sweeping bill to fight opioid addiction will be considered by Senate health committee
The Senate health care committee will consider a sweeping bill next week meant to combat…
Supreme Court wrestles with OxyContin maker’s bankruptcy deal
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday wrestled with a nationwide settlement with OxyContin maker…
Opinion: Big Weed today is a whole lot like Big Tobacco in the 1950s
OK, marijuana is now legal. So where’s the public health approach? Strictly speaking, marijuana use…
STAT+: U.S. Supreme Court to review controversial Purdue Pharma bankruptcy settlement
After weeks of anticipation, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday will hear arguments to decide…
Overdose deaths during pregnancy spiked over the past few years, study says
Overdose deaths among pregnant or postpartum people skyrocketed between 2018 and 2021, according to new…
Opinion: What STAT readers think about premed requirements, too much health care, harm reduction, and more
STAT now publishes selected Letters to the Editor received in response to First Opinion essays…
STAT+: A digital pill shows early promise in detecting opioid overdose, sleep apnea
Gathering health data remotely is a pain. Forgetting to slip on a wearable is easy,…
How the Bad River Tribe flipped the script on the Native American opioid crisis
BAD RIVER RESERVATION, Wis. — Sunlight is streaming through holes in the walls of a…
To fight bias against people with addiction, White House calls for ‘recovery-friendly’ workplaces
The Biden administration on Thursday issued a call to action for the nation’s employers to…
Republicans divided over financial crisis in Medicare
WASHINGTON — Republicans angling for the party’s presidential nomination on Wednesday grappled with the reality…
Opinion: There’s a real risk that harm reduction could be a fad
Harm reduction is having its moment in America. The doors of drug-related harm reduction have…
Senate bill would permanently extend Covid-era rules on telehealth addiction treatment
A bipartisan group of senators this week introduced a bill that would permanently allow health…
Opinion: I lost my son to OxyContin. ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ is my Sackler revenge fantasy
Editor’s note: This essay contains spoilers for the Netflix show “The Fall of the House…
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Senate committee plans Nov. 8 vote on wide-ranging health care package
WASHINGTON — The Senate Finance Committee plans to vote Nov. 8 on legislation that includes…
STAT+: Federal bill would keep addiction medication from triggering a child abuse investigation
When Keri McCallum‘s doctor prescribed her Suboxone, she was told it was the “safest thing…
Did you have Obamacare on your GOP debate bingo card?
You’re reading the web edition of D.C. Diagnosis. Sign up here to receive this newsletter in your…
STAT+: Pear’s shadow effect: Data from a Medicaid digital health experiment does the policy rounds
Pear Therapeutics may be gone, but one of its most important deals is still driving…
Opinion: Where are HHS and the FTC on online privacy for people with substance use disorder?
The era of rampant, unconsented, and unregulated online data collection may finally be winding down…
Not yet free from heroin’s grip, an ‘honest, funny man’ finds his way off the streets
PHILADELPHIA — Shaun Anderson hasn’t slept this late in the day in years. He still…
Republicans say they’ll stop fentanyl at the border. But what are their plans for treatment?
Americans are dying of fentanyl overdoses in record numbers, and the Republican presidential candidates are…
A big insurer decides to cover naloxone for overdose; will others follow?
At long last, naloxone is available over the counter. But now comes a moment of…
Nonprofit naloxone maker celebrates FDA approval by donating 200,000 doses
A nonprofit naloxone manufacturer is celebrating its recent market approval by giving away 200,000 doses…
His book on the opioid crisis flopped in 2003. It now has a new life on Netflix
A new Netflix TV show about the origins and consequences of the opioid epidemic is…
Mental illness, drug addiction go hand in glove, Biden’s drug czar tells lawmakers
WASHINGTON — At a House oversight hearing Thursday, the Biden administration’s top drug policy official emphasized…
Providers still hesitate to prescribe buprenorphine for addiction, despite ‘X-waiver’ removal
Significant challenges remain before most American clinicians feel comfortable treating patients with buprenorphine, according to…