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As opioid crisis rages, Oregon must decide how to spend its settlement dollars

Mar 12, 2024
States are allocating hundreds of millions. Officials weigh spreading it among treatment, recovery, prevention and harm reduction.
Fernando Peña shows NW Instituto Latino's supplies funded by opioid settlement money, including Narcan, which treats overdoses, as well as safer-use, safer-sex and wound care items.
Mitchell Hartman/Marketplace

As opioid settlement funds hit state coffers, a marketing blitz begins

Jan 15, 2024
State and local officials are seeing the first wave of the $50 billion arrive. They're also seeing pitches for products to spend it on.
How to use opioid settlement funds has become part of the conversation around addiction. Above, Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, holds up a bag of fentanyl at a hearing.
Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

A $30 million gift to build an addiction treatment center. Then staffers had to run it.

Jan 19, 2023
The money was a one-time gift for infrastructure, but to stay running, the clinic is on its own.
Crossing Healthcare, an addiction treatment facility in Decatur, Illinois, received a $30 million grant to build the center, but had to fund staffing and programs by itself.
Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images

Walmart joins CVS and Walgreens in landmark opioid settlement

Nov 16, 2022
The agreement is with several U.S. states, cities, and Native American tribes.
A sign for Walmart is displayed outside its store in Washington, DC.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Could making fentanyl test strips more available curb opioid overdoses?

Feb 10, 2022
Some health officials and researchers say the tests could save lives. But many state drug paraphernalia laws make them illegal.
Packages of fentanyl test strips and instructions for their use. Some experts and officials say they can save lives, but they are outlawed in many states.
Gustavo Sagrero/Boise State Public Radio

California invests millions to try and curtail drug overdoses

Dec 28, 2021
The program's approach includes an emphasis on medically-assisted treatment, using drugs to help ease withdrawal symptoms and cravings.
California Bridge regional director Joshua Luftig, right, and program coordinator Christian Hailozian at the Bridge Substance Use Program at Highland Hospital in Oakland
Beth LaBerge/KQED

For public good, not for profit.

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to plead to 3 criminal charges

Oct 21, 2020
The drugmaker will also pay a settlement of more than $8 billion, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
OxyContin is displayed at a drugstore in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Darren McCollester/Getty Images

Investigation finds rehab programs across the U.S. require unpaid labor from clients

Jul 8, 2020
At least 300 rehab facilities in 44 states required unpaid labor from participants, investigators found.
Investigators found rehab participants doing everything from picking cotton in Georgia to doing doing construction on high rises in the San Francisco Bay Area, all with no or little pay.
Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

Is a rise in store theft at Home Depot really linked to the opioid crisis?

Dec 13, 2019
Some are skeptical the chain retailer's "shrink" is due to opioid addiction.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images