opioid epidemic

Many hip hop songs normalize opioids and other drugs, a fact that is left out of public health approaches to the opioid epidemic, says Kaiser Health News reporter Chaseedaw Giles. At the same time, many people are unaware of side effects like withdrawal – which could be solved with public health messaging that looks to the culture and incorporates it.

Philadelphia is releasing its plan to fight the opioid epidemic following an increase of overdose deaths last year at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. NBC10’s Aaron Baskerville gets reactions from people living at the heart of the city’s opioid crisis, Kensington.

Doctors say they’re facing increasing threats of violence for refusing to prescribe opioids or trying to wean patients off the addictive painkillers.

A divided appeals court on Tuesday rejected a plan to open a supervised injection site in Philadelphia to try to reduce overdose deaths.

The CDC reports that overdose fatalities in the U.S. have spiked during the coronavirus pandemic.

Doctors explain the stress of isolation, loss of work and loss of health coverage are partially to blame — but they’re finding that something else is causing the spike in overdoses.

Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of the painkiller Oxycontin, pleaded guilty to charges for its role in the opioid crisis. 

The Department of Justice announced Wednesday that Purdue Pharma agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges for their marketing of OxyContin.

New Jersey residents will be able to pick up the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone for free over the next three days.

Up to seven people were hospitalized, including five law enforcement officers and a tow truck driver, after a chemical exposure while attempting to aid the driver of a car who stopped on the Golden Gate Bridge Sunday, California authorities said.

The COVID crisis has made the opioid crisis even worse, as people suffering from addiction delay treatment and additional people turn to substance abuse. And now, drug overdoses are hitting the city’s Black communities particularly hard, NBC10’s Mitch Blacher reports.

Protesters speaking out against recent violence, drug use and a proposed supervised injection site marched through the city’s Kensington neighborhood Wednesday and confronted Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.

Protesters marched through Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood on Wednesday, speaking out against recent violence and drug use. They were met by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, causing some to greet him with anger. NBC10’s Aaron Baskerville has the details.

A supervised injection site for opioid users in Philadelphia, which has already received approval from a federal judge, is now in the middle of a national tug-of-war as an appellate court weighs its future.

The coronavirus pandemic is overshadowing a separate crisis that was top of our collective mind just a couple months ago: the opioid epidemic. “It’s almost like everything has been stopped in time,” said John Pellicane, Director of the Office of Mental Health and Addiction Awareness Task Force in Camden County, New Jersey. For weeks, a viral invasion has dominated...

Kristen Rivera says people struggling with addiction issues in Camden and Philadelphia “need more help than ever before.” She’s not willing to let the coronavirus stop her from helping them.

Mayor Jim Kenney reiterated his support for supervised injection sites in Philadelphia, and proposed increased funding for anti-opioid abuse programs in the 2020-2021 budget during his annual address. A protester called him a “sneak” repeatedly for the way the city’s first proposed injection site was announced for South Philadelphia.

Members of the nonprofit, Safehouse, told NBC10 reporter Stephanía Jiménez that plans to open a supervised injection site for drug users in Philadelphia say they are looking for a new location.

Mayor Jim Kenney says he is disappointed that an overdose prevention site in South Philadelphia was denied by residents. NBC10’s Stephania Jimenez reports on the harsh words Kenney had for critics of the supervised-injection site.

Philadelphia political leaders are jostling over a proposal to put a safe injection site in Kensington. NBC10 took a trip to Canada’s largest city, Toronto, to see the effects of several injection sites that have been in operation more than a decade.