IT IS MY HOPE that one day this public health crisis will be nothing but a memory. It has sickened and killed far too many, torn families apart, and weakened […]
opioid crisis
Posted inDrug Addiction
Opioid overdose deaths rise during pandemic
DEATHS FROM OPIOID OVERDOSES increased in Massachusetts during the pandemic, after three years of a steady decline. The rise in deaths is an alarming sign and one that experts say is […]
Posted inOpinion
Pandemic hasn’t erased the opioid epidemic
HE HAD JUST LOST his father to COVID-19. His dad had succumbed to this relentless disease while living in a long-term care facility. He was just beginning to cope with […]
Posted inThe Download
Opioids’ path of destruction in construction
Differences in health patterns among different population groups is a well-established fact. Indeed, it forms the foundation for an entire field of health research, epidemiology, which has contributed enormously to […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Opioids’ path of destruction in construction
DIFFERENCES IN HEALTH patterns among different population groups is a well-established fact. Indeed, it forms the foundation for an entire field of health research, epidemiology, which has contributed enormously to […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Judging the judge
A protest last week outside a Salem courthouse featured a refrain made familiar by the scholarly legal eagles who regularly populate the president’s rally, where they apply only the most […]
Posted inThe Download
Judging the judge
A protest last week outside a Salem courthouse featured a refrain made familiar by the scholarly legal eagles who regularly populate the president’s rally, where they apply only the most […]
Posted inOpinion
A bridge to opportunity
IN 2014, THE OPIOID crisis passed two critical local milestones: Massachusetts’ fatal opioid overdose rate rose to more than double the national average; and the city of Boston lost an […]
Posted inOpinion
Taxpayers clean up Big Pharma’s mess
LAST YEAR, the United States saw a 13 percent increase in drug overdose deaths, from an estimated 60,147 lives lost in 2016, to an estimated 67,944 in 2017. For perspective, […]
Posted inOpinion
Electronic opioid scripts save lives
A HEARING EARLIER this month on Beacon Hill underscored the critical need for Massachusetts-specific solutions to the nation’s opioid crisis. As the Legislature prepares next steps to address this critical […]
Posted inOpinion
Public health emergency rings hollow
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S ANNOUNCEMENT that the opioid epidemic is a public health emergency certainly drew attention to the problem, but in reality it is an empty declaration that, at least as […]
Posted inThe Download
Naloxone is Band-Aid, not cure
New research indicates naloxone has been a huge life-saver for opioid overdose victims, but doctors say 1 in 10 of those rescued by the drug overdosed again within a year […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Clark takes on Purdue’s opioid marketingÂ
LATE LAST YEAR, an article in the Los Angeles Times caught the eye of US Rep. Katherine Clark of Melrose. The article alleged that Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma, the maker of […]
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 inThe Download
Here’s what an apparent overdose looks like
Everyone has read countless stories about the horrors of addiction, but a video taken in one of the aisles of a Family Dollar store in Lawrence on Sunday morning makes […]
Posted inThe Download
Opioid crisis through lens of class and race
Northampton is the focus for a revealing MassLive article on hidden heroin addiction in Western Massachusetts: Â “All races, ethnic groups, ages, and income levels” have been affected, the report found. […]