July 28, 2021 Wednesday Weekly
National
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed deep concern about suicide among troops during a visit to U.S. forces stationed in Alaska where there has been an alarming spike in those deaths. In 2018, 326 active-duty troops died by suicide, with the toll increasing to 350 in 2019 and 385 in 2020, according to the most recent Pentagon figures.
USA Today – July 26, 2021
Public health experts on announcement of opioid settlement
Members of a coalition of 50+ leading public health groups who issued a set of five guiding principles for spending opioid settlement funds in January are reacting to the announcement of the $26 billion settlement deal between a group of state attorneys general and Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen, McKesson, and Johnson & Johnson.
Health News Digest – July 22, 2021
$26 Billion opioid settlement doesn’t go far enough
Bob Ferguson, the attorney general of Washington state, issued a news release summarily rejecting the settlement. “The settlement is, to be blunt, not nearly good enough for Washington,” he said. “It stretches woefully insufficient funds into small payments over nearly 20 years, to be shared among more than 300 Washington jurisdictions.”
Bloomberg – July 22, 2021
Big pharma will pay biggest settlement since big tobacco over opioids
Less than two weeks after the Sackler family paid $4.5 billion to settle claims brought against Purdue Pharma for the opioid epidemic, four other drug distributors reached a deal Wednesday with the attorneys general of 14 states to release the firms from all claims for $26 billion. It’s the largest corporate settlement since Big Tobacco.
July 22, 2021
Hiding in plain sight: A father’s journey with addiction, loss and forgiveness
SUD’s have taken thousands of young lives in recent decades. By 2018, 70,000 deaths were attributed annually to opioid overdose. By 2020, as our country battled a pandemic, the losses increased - according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and overdose death surpassed 90,000. Sadly, victims are often young adults suffering from co-existing mental health issues. Opioid overdose is the leading cause of death under age 50; indiscriminate, hitting every race and demographic.
Forbes – July 22, 2021
Nationally, substance use disorder is on the rise and fatal drug overdoses have reached an all-time high, with over 90,000 deaths occurring in the 12 months ending in December 2020, according to recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. To help those in need, Shatterproof, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reversing the addiction crisis in the United States, is expanding and enhancing its free tool, ATLAS®, to connect individuals with high-quality, appropriate addiction treatment throughout California.
The Post and Mail – July 21, 2021
A penalty in billions for opioid brokers
More than two decades and 500,000 overdose deaths after the U.S. opioid epidemic began, the biggest penalty for drug companies’ role in the crisis was announced Tuesday, when lawyers for states, cities and counties detailed a tentative settlement worth $26 billion.
The Washington Post e-Replica Newspapers in Education – July 21, 2021
50-year war on drugs imprisoned millions of Black Americans
Fifty years ago this summer, President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs. Today, with the U.S. mired in a deadly opioid epidemic that did not abate during the coronavirus pandemic’s worst days, it is questionable whether anyone won the war.
AP News – July 21, 2021
Global settlement would resolve ongoing and future opioid crisis lawsuits
Some of the country's biggest drug companies are settling thousands of opioid-related lawsuits all at once with a $26 billion settlement. Now, that settlement also includes provisions by which those companies would agree to more rigorous oversight. NPR's addiction correspondent Brian Mann is following this story.
NPR – July 20, 2021
Purdue bankruptcy watchdog says protections benefiting Sacklers are ‘illegal’
The U.S. Department of Justice’s bankruptcy watchdog on Monday objected to Purdue Pharma LP’s proposed reorganization plan and opioid settlement, saying the legal protections it provides to the members of the Sackler family who own the OxyContin maker are too broad.
Reuters – July 19, 2021
State / Local
Connecticut is in line to receive about $300 million from a national settlement of opioid crisis-related claims against four of the country’s largest pharmaceutical companies. Now comes the challenge of distributing that infusion of funds.
StamfordAdvocate.com – July 24, 2021
Overdose deaths from meth, other drugs up in LA County during pandemic
Fueled by the pandemic, Los Angeles County is seeing a marked increase in deaths linked to accidental drug overdoses, according to a new report. The data show COVID-19 exacerbated an already difficult methamphetamine addiction problem.
ABC7 KABC – July 24, 2021
Philadelphia files suit over national opioid settlement
In the first big challenge to the proposed $26 billion national opioid settlement, the Philadelphia district attorney on Thursday sued Pennsylvania’s attorney general over the deal, saying the city stands to get only a pittance to cope with an epidemic that is killing more than 1,000 people a year.
AP News – July 22, 2021
Ohio doctor convicted of overprescribing painkillers
A federal jury on Wednesday convicted Dr. William Bauer of Port Clinton on charges of distributing controlled substances to 14 patients and healthcare fraud. Federal prosecutors said Bauer prescribed dangerous drug combinations and high doses of addictive narcotics that weren’t medically necessary between 2015 and 2019 at his office in Bellevue.
AP News – July 22, 2021
Three opioid distributors settle New York lawsuit for $1.1 billion
In a settlement negotiation that ran late into the night Monday, according to a source familiar with the discussions, McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc. and Amerisource Bergen Drug Corporation have agreed to pay $1.1 billion towards opioid abatement efforts in the Empire State, according to the statement.
CNN.com – July 20, 2021
Studies in the news / Research
July 23 is National Women Touched by Addiction Day, which recognizes women who have faced addiction firsthand or have felt its effects through others and calls for the de-stigmatization of addiction. In recognition of this day, the Vanderbilt School of Medicine Basic Sciences’ Center for Addiction Research hosted a conversation about the intersection of incarceration, societal reentry and addiction, and their impact on women.
Vanderbilt University – July 23, 2021
Words matter: Language can reduce mental health and addiction stigma, NIH leaders say
In a perspective published in Neuropsychopharmacology, leaders from the National Institutes of Health address how using appropriate language to describe mental illness and addiction can help to reduce stigma and improve how people with these conditions are treated in health care settings and throughout society. The authors define stigma as negative attitudes toward people that are based on certain distinguishing characteristics. More than a decade of research has shown that stigma contributes significantly to negative health outcomes and can pose a barrier to seeking treatment for mental illness or substance use disorders.
National Institutes of Health – July 19, 2021
Lessons learned – and lost – from a Viet Nam-era study of addiction
In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared drug abuse the nation’s “No 1. Public Health Problem.” At the time, the military was concerned about soldiers in Vietnam who had easy access to heroin that was cheap and potent. To get a better handle on the problem and see how best to support veterans, the Department of Defense, the National Institutes of Health, and the Veterans Administration funded a research project. Surprisingly, in the first year back home, only 5% had relapsed to addiction.
StatNews.com – July 19, 2021
Opinion
There is growing anger among families bereaved by the US opioid epidemic at pharmaceutical companies “buying their way out of accountability” with multibillion-dollar settlements that specifically exclude any admission of wrongdoing.
Yahoo News – July 25, 2021
The urgent task ahead is to put the funds to work to save lives (they’ll all be paid out over many years). Late last month, Gov. Cuomo signed into law a bill creating an Opioid Settlement Fund overseen by a board of 19 appointees from state and local governments. The cash will go into a trust “in the joint custody of the comptroller and the commissioner of taxation and finance”; the board will recommend spending in a manner “consistent with the terms of any statewide opioid settlement agreements,” and to supplement and not supplant other aid.
NY Daily News – July 24, 2021
The missing pieces of Anthony Bourdain
Roadrunner, a new documentary about the chef and television star, tries to uncover who he really was, but neglects vital parts of his story. It vividly and emotively captures Bourdain’s late-period melancholy and bitterness without fully connecting the dots to his history of addiction, his hypermasculine public persona, and his lifelong quest for transient thrills.
The Atlantic – July 24, 2021
What those in power are missing about the opioid epidemic
People who use drugs and those who love them have helped reverse thousands of overdoses in the United States, saving friends, family members, and strangers. They’ve done this work without recognition, without fanfare, and sometimes at great risk to themselves. They know firsthand the benefits of access to sterile syringes, naloxone, and drug-testing strips, which detect the presence of fentanyl in a particular drug. But few in power listen to their advice. Some state and local governments actively ignore them. If local governments want to tackle the opioid crisis, they need to listen more to harm-reduction advocates, especially those in hard-hit communities.
The Atlantic – July 24, 2021
Opioid settlements are imminent. Spend the money on proven treatments that save lives.
Those of us who remember the tobacco settlements in the late 1990s know that a financial windfall does not always go to those who need the most help.
USA Today – July 23, 2021
Why we love drugs: Michael Pollan on America’s broken – but improving – relationship with drugs
It’s strange to say, but we don’t really have a good definition of the term. You could say a drug is any substance that transforms our subjective experience of the world, but food does that, too. So what’s the difference? In this country, it turns out the difference is pretty arbitrary. Drugs are whatever the government says they are. And for a long time, the government has classified them in a deeply dishonest and cynical way. We call this absurdity “the drug war.” But here’s the good news (especially if you’re one of the groups victimized by it): The drug war is dying.
Vox – July 20, 2021
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif): 2020 saw a scary increase in U.S. drug overdoses. We must take national action to help communities at risk.
The rate of drug overdoses in the U.S. accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, worsening an existing public health crisis, and the numbers are staggering. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported that more than 93,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2020, the most ever in a single year, and up nearly 30% from the 72,000 deaths in 2019.
Time Magazine – July 19, 2021
Podcasts: The Weekly Roundup
Let’s Talk Recovery (Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation) – Everything you need to know about gender-responsive care
Addiction affects men and women differently, and women's stories often involve very specific kinds of trauma. To learn more about these differences (and how to respond to them), host William C. Moyers spoke with author, advocate and expert Stephanie Covington, PhD. Listen in and learn about the different kinds of trauma, the benefits of specialized services and the latest developments in gender-responsive care.
Recovery in the Middle Ages – Recovery in the News Special Edition! Does Drinking in Moderation Work?
This week on RMA-the news you can use. On a special, all-Recovery in the News episode of RMA, Mike and Nat do a deep dive on two timely stories, the first, a critique of the idea of drinking in moderation, and the second on how companies are planning to deal with returning workers who picked up some unfortunate addictions during lockdown.
Rehab Confidential – Tom Coderre, Former Rhode Island State Senator
Joe and Amy sit down with Tom Coderre, former state senator from Rhode Island and current Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use for SAMHSA. We discuss what SAMHSA defines as “recovery”, the new ONDCP director and the spike in overdose deaths. Tom was featured with Joe in “The Anonymous People”.
This week on Dopey! It was three years ago this week that we lost Chris to a fentanyl overdose. His sponsor Dylan returns to the show to help us remember him and to talk about living without him as well as drug addiction and dumb shit! (even Kratom). We also read an email, hear a crazy classic Dopey voicemail and Dylan drops a pretty insane story himself! Misty, the dopey fairy calls in to explain how Chris’s death affected her. All that and more on a special new episode of Dopey!
The Addicted Mind Podcast – From the Perspective of an Addict’s Loved One: Transmuting Pain into Service with KL Wells
When we are in deep pain or we have these hardships in our life, we have to learn how to transmute them and turn them into something different – not just overcoming it. As for KL Wells, she decided to transmute her pain into service by helping others whose loved ones are struggling with addiction. KL is a businesswoman whose 30-year-old son who is a recovering addict. Today, KL talks about her project, Voices InCourage.