ON THE SECOND FLOOR of the Tufts New England Medical Center is a room with no light and no sound but for the high-pitched screams of babies. Nurse Christine Lavoie tends here to the tiny patients, who are sweating, easily startled, breathing frantically, and difficult to feed. Their muscles are extremely tense. “You feel like […]
Drugs
Posted inDrug Addiction
Dempsey pitches higher pot tax
THE HOUSE’S TOP BUDGET OFFICIAL on Friday made a pitch for a higher tax rate on recreational marijuana during a press conference unveiling the Legislature’s fiscal 2018 budget proposal. Rep. Brian Dempsey of Haverhill, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said the 28 percent tax rate proposed in the House pot bill […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, Opinion
With mixed record on opioids, Baker joining task force
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER IS JOINING a White House task force on opioids, to be chaired by fellow governor Chris Christie, whom Baker endorsed in the Republican presidential primaries. Baker is bringing with him a reputation for action on the issue, both here in Massachusetts and leading his fellow governors. Yet despite these efforts, opioids remain […]
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 a public health problem, not a criminal one. The tires are now getting kicked a little on both claims. Gov. Charlie Baker has become a […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Drug Addiction, Opinion
Sununu, Rivera vow to work together on drugs
Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire and Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera talked by phone on Thursday after Sununu had claimed that most of the drugs flowing into the Granite State were coming from Lawrence. Below are the statements the two officials released following the phone call. Rivera’s statement, which includes a number of grammatical and […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, State House News Service
Opioid deaths continued to climb in 2016
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE DYING from opioid overdoses in Massachusetts each year continues to climb, according to a new state report projecting an estimated increase of between 13 and 24 percent from 2015 to 2016. A total of 1,465 people died of unintentional opioid overdoses in 2016, with another 469 to […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, Politics, State House News Service
Pot campaign bashed for appeal
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A FUNDRAISING APPEAL from the marijuana legalization campaign has drawn the ire of health care professionals and parents of children who died from opioid addiction after the group pitched legal marijuana as an alternative to prescription pain drugs in spite of the state’s medical marijuana program. Will Luzier, the campaign manager […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, State House News Service
Healey cuts deal with CVS on opioids
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE CVS PHARMACY will require its staff to check the state’s prescription monitoring program database before filling certain abuse-associated opioid prescriptions under a newly announced settlement with Attorney General Maura Healey’s office. The settlement includes a payment of $795,000 from the chain. According to the attorney general’s office, it resolves allegations that […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, State House News Service
Fentanyl fuels rise in opioid deaths
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE FENTANYL HELPED FUEL an increase in opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts over the first six months of the year, according to state public health officials whose new numbers show the addiction epidemic’s continuing toll even as state officials pour time and money into fighting it. The Department of Public Health (DPH) […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, Opinion
Too many opioid prescriptions get written
CONGRESS HAS HELPED MASSACHUSETTS and the nation take another step forward in the battle against prescription drug abuse. The Comprehensive Recovery and Addiction Act (CARA), a bipartisan effort incorporating several pieces of legislation targeted at opioid abuse, has been passed overwhelmingly by the House and Senate, and President Obama has signed it into law. A […]