Opioid deaths in Massachusetts are no longer on the rise, according to the Department of Health, but officials say progress has slowed. Deaths from opioid overdoses dropped 3% in the Bay State from 2016 to 2017, and dropped 2% from 2017 to 2018, but improvement stopped from 2018 to 2019. Health officials saw virtually no change in that timeframe. These…

Police said they found multiple medicine bottles around the family’s Bensalem apartment including one in the baby’s swing.

A Vermont city plans to expand and adapt a program that sought to address the opioid crisis and other social problems.

Overdose tracking systems are giving near real-time glimpses into the ravages of the opioid-fueled drug crisis. The Hudson Valley Interlink Analytic System in New York is among a number of surveillance systems being adopted around the country by police, government agencies and community groups.

Every time she got out of jail, Jamie Cline started hustling again for heroin, driven by an addiction she didn’t understand. “You want to get clean so bad. You know something’s killing you and you can’t stop,” said the 33-year-old who used heroin for 10 years.

Parents whose children fatally overdosed on opioids are demanding Harvard University remove the name of a family whose company makes the powerful painkiller OxyContin from a building that housed one of its art museums. About two dozen parents protested Friday outside the building the housed the Arthur M. Sackler Museum.

Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills has signed an executive order aimed at helping the state deal with an opioid epidemic. Her order Wednesday calls for making the overdose antidote Naloxone more widely available; logging and mapping overdoses to track “hotspots” in real time; implementing medication-assisted therapy programs; and creating targeted prevention programs.

A Norwalk doctor has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison on drug distribution and health care fraud charges after what authorities have called the largest ever health care fraud enforcement action by the federal Medicare Fraud Strike Force in the country.

The opioid epidemic is having an immense impact on the nation and although parents may refrain from speaking to their children about it, experts encourage the discussion. Chief clinical officer of Gosnold, Inc, Allie Anderson, shares what her organization does and how they help children understand through counseling.

In Maine, there’s confusion at the state’s Capitol over new rules to make Narcan more accessible.

More than 150 people across New Hampshire are facing charges after a drug sweep carried out by local, state and federal law enforcement.

Amid the outcry over the Florida school shootings, the Trump administration says it is “actively exploring” ways to help states expand inpatient mental health treatment using Medicaid funds. President Donald Trump again brought up the issue of mental hospitals in a meeting with governors this week, invoking a time when states maintained facilities for mentally ill and developmentally disabled people.

Seth Meyers takes a break from breaking news to check in on President Donald Trump’s promise to do everything in his power to fight the opioid epidemic.

A yearlong study offers rigorous new evidence against using prescription opioids for chronic pain. In patients with stubborn back aches or hip or knee arthritis, opioids worked no better than over-the-counter drugs or other nonopioids at reducing problems with walking or sleeping. And they provided slightly less pain relief, Opioids tested included generic Vicodin, oxycodone or fentanyl patches although few...

Republican Gov. Chris Sununu says it will take cooperation, innovation, and compassion to reverse the terrible effects of New Hampshire’s opioid crisis.

Placing much of the blame on smoking, a study chronicling the ongoing health crisis in Appalachia has concluded that the 13-state region suffers from a growing disparity in infant mortality and life expectancy, two key indicators of “a nation’s health and well-being.” The study, published in the August issue of Health Affairs, compared infant mortality and life expectancy rates in...

Federal health authorities are warning about reports of injury, addiction and death with a herbal supplement that has been promoted as an alternative to opioid painkillers and other prescription drugs The supplement, kratom, made from a plant native to Southeast Asia, has gained popularity in the U.S. as a treatment for pain, anxiety and drug dependence. Users have opposed efforts...

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health says about a third of doctors are not checking the state’s opioid tracking system when they write prescriptions, despite a new law mandating them to do so.

The nation’s largest pharmacy benefit manager will soon limit the number and strength of opioid drugs prescribed to first-time users as part of a wide-ranging effort to curb an epidemic affecting millions of Americans. But the new program from Express Scripts is drawing criticism from the American Medical Association, the largest association of physicians and medical students in the U.S.,...

Emergency rooms are where many patients are first introduced to powerful opioid painkillers, but what if doctors offered over-the-counter pills instead? A new study tested that approach on patients with broken bones and sprains and found pain relievers sold as Tylenol and Motrin worked as well as opioids at reducing severe pain. The results challenge common ER practice for treating...