Opioids

There’s been a large increase in the amount of bystanders who administer opioid reversal medication in the event of an overdose. Researchers say a lot more still needs to be done.

Cuyahoga and Summit counties were the first in Ohio to sue opioid makers and distributors. Now, they have to decide how distribute the payout.

The drug is being administered more by bystanders, but the vast majority of naloxone is being given by professionals.

The OneOhio Recovery Foundation, who has been tasked with distributing over $860 million of settlements reached with drugmakers and pharmaceutical companies for their roles in the national opioid crisis, plans to release its formal request for proposals Monday.

The federal lawsuit claimed Indivior Inc. made changes to its product to extend the patent, preventing other companies from making cheaper alternatives.

A nonprofit tried to halt the foundation from spending the money until it complied, but the judge did not grant that request.

Black people had the second highest overdose death rate in 2020. In Franklin County drug deaths among blacks were up 55%.

The lawsuit accused them of causing a health crisis by distributing 81 million pills over eight years in one West Virginia county ravaged by opioid addiction.

Companies at the center of the deadly prescription opioid epidemic are close to deals that would cap their liability while funding drug treatment and recovery programs.

Journalist and author Sam Quinones explores the human toll in his new book, “The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth.