Oregon became the first U.S. state to decriminalize the possession of all drugs on Nov. 3, 2020. Measure 110, a ballot initiative funded by the Drug Policy Alliance, a nonprofit advocacy group backed in part by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, passed with more than 58% of the vote. Possessing heroin, cocaine,...
Sackler-Owned Opioid Maker Pushes Overdose Treatment Abroad
The gleaming white booth towered over the medical conference in Italy in October, advertising a new brand of antidote for opioid overdoses. “Be prepared. Get naloxone. Save a life,” the slogan on its walls said. Some conference attendees were stunned when they saw the company logo: Mundipharma, the international affiliate...
California Democratic Donor Charged With Running Drug House
LOS ANGELES — A West Hollywood man who made prominent donations to the Democratic Party was charged Tuesday with running a drug house where two men died of overdoses. Edward Buck, who was arrested at his home Tuesday, should be held on $4 million bail because he is a "violent,...
Efforts to Minimize Opioid Painkillers After Surgery Appear to Be Working
The opioid epidemic has been wreaking misery and death across the nation for years. In 2017 alone, opioid overdoses killed more than 47,000 people – 10,000 more deaths than were caused by traffic accidents that year. For many people who abuse opioids, the problem begins with opioid prescriptions from their...
Big Question in Opioid Suits: How to Divide Any Settlement
The roughly 2,000 state and local governments suing the drug industry over the deadly opioid crisis have yet to see any verdicts or reach any big national settlements but are already tussling with each other over how to divide any money they collect. The reason: Some of them want to...
Deadly Blue 'Mexican Oxy' Pills Take Toll on US Southwest
TUCSON, Ariz. — Aaron Francisco Chavez swallowed at least one of the sky blue pills at a Halloween party before falling asleep forever. He became yet another victim killed by a flood of illicit fentanyl smuggled from Mexico by the Sinaloa cartel into the Southwest — a profitable new business...
Gov. Brown Just Says No to Supervised Drug Injection Plan
SAN FRANCISCO — California Gov. Jerry Brown rejected legislation on Sunday that would have allowed San Francisco to open what could be the nation's first supervised drug injection site under a pilot program. Advocates of "safe injection" sites say the locations would save lives by preventing drug overdoses and providing...