The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/drugs/)
The prosecutor in Carver County, Mn., where Prince died, said no criminal charges will be filed in the musician’s death, ending the state’s two-year investigation into how Prince got the fentanyl that killed him. The physician who illegally prescribed an opioid for Prince agreed to pay a $30,000 federal settlement.
Prescriptions showed their biggest drop in 25 years. The decline comes amid increasing legal restrictions and public awareness of the dangers of addiction. Health data firm IQVIA’s Institute for Human Data Science found a 9 percent drop nationwide in the number of prescriptions for opioids filled by retail and mail-order pharmacies.
At least 82 candidates and office holders have been killed since the electoral season kicked off in September, making this the bloodiest presidential race in recent history, according to a tally by Etellekt, a security consultancy based in Mexico City.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the Drug Enforcement Administration should be able to reduce a company’s opioid production if it believes the drugs are being diverted for misuse. Dozens of people were arrested Tuesday in the takedown of a drug distribution network in Ohio, West Virginia and Michigan.
The former Democratic representative and scion of the political dynasty is the go-to player for firms seeking to benefit from the Trump administration’s multibillion-dollar response to the opioid crisis. He is paid more than $1 million in salaries and equity stakes in companies.
In an unusual agreement between the two major political parties and both recent presidents, the federal government is spending billions on medication treatments for addiction.
At the annual meeting of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, experts say the overdose scourge is an opportunity to “change the way addiction medicine is treated across the board.”
The president tells Sen. Cory Gardner (D-CO) that the federal government won’t target states like Colorado that have legalized recreational marijuana. Gardner now will lift his hold on Trump’s Justice Department nominees.
Evidence-based reforms could make them more effective, writes an addiction expert. He offers one example: stop limiting approved medication-assisted treatment to Vivitrol.
Forty states have laws that give immunity from drug charges to people to call 911 about overdoses. The problem is that drug users aren’t aware of the laws.