GOV. CHARLIE BAKER IS JOINING a White House task force on opioids, to be chaired by fellow governor Chris Christie, whom Baker endorsed in the Republican presidential primaries. Baker is […]
Drugs
Posted inDrug Addiction, State House News Service, The Download
Pushing the addiction-as-disease envelope
Two assumptions have have come to define discussion of the opioid crisis in the country: 1) It is not a partisan issue, and 2) we need to approach it as […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Drug Addiction, Opinion
Sununu, Rivera vow to work together on drugs
Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire and Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera talked by phone on Thursday after Sununu had claimed that most of the drugs flowing into the Granite State […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, State House News Service
Opioid deaths continued to climb in 2016
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE DYING from opioid overdoses in Massachusetts each year continues to climb, according to a new state report projecting an estimated increase of […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, Politics, State House News Service
Pot campaign bashed for appeal
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A FUNDRAISING APPEAL from the marijuana legalization campaign has drawn the ire of health care professionals and parents of children who died from opioid addiction after […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, State House News Service
Healey cuts deal with CVS on opioids
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE CVS PHARMACY will require its staff to check the state’s prescription monitoring program database before filling certain abuse-associated opioid prescriptions under a newly announced settlement with […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, State House News Service
Fentanyl fuels rise in opioid deaths
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE FENTANYL HELPED FUEL an increase in opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts over the first six months of the year, according to state public health officials whose […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, Opinion
Too many opioid prescriptions get written
CONGRESS HAS HELPED MASSACHUSETTS and the nation take another step forward in the battle against prescription drug abuse. The Comprehensive Recovery and Addiction Act (CARA), a bipartisan effort incorporating several […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, Economy, Politics
Top pols say just vote no
THE STATE’S TOP elected officials from both sides of the aisle made a powerful political appeal to oppose the ballot question that would legalize the adult use and commercial sale […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, Opinion
Medical marijuana could ease opioid crisis
THE CAMPAIGN TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA for recreational use in Massachusetts is dominating headlines and polls while drawing some strong opposition from important people. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, Attorney General Maura […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, The Back Story
The gateway debate over marijuana
CHRIS LOWE, A 41-year-old carpenter on Martha’s Vineyard, has smoked pot since his early 20s, both legally and illegally. When he lived in Montana, he had a certificate to grow, sell, […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, Opinion
What you can do to ease the opioid crisis
BY NOW, EVERYONE has seen or heard about the HBO documentary Heroin: Cape Cod, USA, and most have been bombarded with seemingly daily headlines highlighting the newest statistics or the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Drug Addiction, State House News Service
Deal struck on driver’s licenses for drug offenders
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE GROUP OF lawmakers working since January to reconcile House and Senate versions of a bill to repeal what has been called a remnant of the […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, Politics, State House News Service
Emotional Baker signs opioid legislation
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE An emotional Gov. Charlie Baker fought back tears Monday as he recounted the stories he’s heard from the parents of young people who have died from […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, State House News Service
House passes opioid abuse prevention bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE HOUSE UNANIMOUSLY PASSED a compromise opioid abuse prevention bill on Wednesday afternoon that was negotiated over the past seven weeks with the Senate. The bill, […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, State House News Service
Lawmakers hear testimony on pot legalization
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Activists in favor of the legalization of the adult use of marijuana squared off Monday with law enforcement officials and legislators in what one activist called […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Lawmakers not sold on pot
MASSACHUSETTS LAWMAKERS OPPOSED to legalizing marijuana brought in an array of law enforcement officials as well as a buffet of kid-enticing pot products to try to scare the state straight before […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, Health Care, The Download
New law offers women drug treatment instead of prison
The disgraceful practice of sending women who have been civilly committed for substance abuse disorders to the state prison in Framingham rather than a treatment facility is finally coming to […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Drug Addiction, Opinion
Ending driver’s license suspension for drug offenders
I APPLAUD THE members of the 189th General Court of the Massachusetts House of Representatives for finishing what their colleagues in the Senate started in September by unanimously supporting legislation […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, The Download
Death moves into the neighborhood
Drug abuse has come out of the shadows. No longer is it just the junkie in the back alley that gets our sympathy but little else for treatment. It’s now in […]
