FOR SEVERAL YEARS, Massachusetts lawmakers have been bandying about the idea of authorizing “supervised consumption sites” – locations where someone could use illicit drugs under medical supervision to prevent fatal overdoses. These sites could offer such services as clean needle exchanges and referrals to substance abuse treatment. The goal is to prevent deaths from drug overdoses and illnesses from unclean needles, while providing drug […]
Drugs
Posted inDrug Addiction
Sackler family members to pay $4.3b settlement — $90m to Mass.
MEMBERS OF THE Sackler family who own Purdue Pharma will pay $4.3 billion to settle a lawsuit over Purdue’s role in perpetuating the opioid addiction epidemic, a lawsuit first initiated by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey in 2018. The company will have to disband or be sold by 2024, and the Sackler family members will be […]
Posted inOpinion
AG could give big lift to supervised drug sites
PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE’S Empire of Pain describes Attorney General Maura Healey’s quest, not just for financial restitution from members of the Oxycontin-promoting Sackler family but also to expose their deep venality. And exposed they were. Yet imagine Healy’s frustration as the members of the Sackler family cut their losses and kept an ungodly portion of […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
HIV cases spiking among Boston homeless
HEALTH OFFICIALS have identified a growing cluster of 134 HIV cases primarily among homeless people who inject drugs in the Boston area, a worrying sign for health officials who several years ago were talking about a goal of eradicating new HIV cases in the state. “What we see is not only HIV transmission occurring, but the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Pharmacists blame middlemen for high drug costs
AMID growing attention being paid in Massachusetts to the high cost of prescription drugs, independent pharmacists are pointing a finger at a little known culprit: the middlemen who mediate between drug manufacturers, insurers, and pharmacies. The independent pharmacists released a study Thursday arguing that a particular pricing practice used by pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, is unnecessarily driving up the cost of […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker joins Lamont to push drug pricing proposal
MASSACHUSETTS GOV. Charlie Baker teamed up with Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont on Tuesday to advocate for a policy both have proposed that would curb the growth in prescription drug prices. The two governors said the plan would provide some predictability for individuals and the health care system in the prices of common pharmaceuticals and rejected […]
Posted inUncategorized
Magic mushroom advocates following cannabis playbook
ALEXANDER KARASIK, a 31-year-old engineer living in Somerville, first tried using “magic mushrooms” while traveling in Thailand. He said his experience with the illicit hallucinogenic drug opened him up to seeing more beauty in the world. “I see the life and aliveness in nature and living creatures more,” Karasik said. After he was nearly killed […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Mass. to get $13.2m from McKinsey opioid settlement
MASSACHUSETTS WILL get $13.2 million from a national settlement with consultant McKinsey & Company over the company’s role working for opioid companies. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who has been a leader in the opioid-related litigation, called the settlement “an important moment for accountability” for families who have been devasted by opioid addiction. The Massachusetts […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker says proposed drug overcharging penalties would total $70m
IT’S BAKER versus drug companies, take two. Gov. Charlie Baker, in his fiscal 2022 budget proposal, is reviving a controversial plan to penalize drug companies for charging too much for their drugs. The budget estimates that $70 million in overcharging penalties would be collected in the fiscal year beginning July 1, with $47.5 million earmarked […]
Posted inUncategorized
Marijuana trade association drops delivery lawsuit amid public pressure
FACING INTENSE PUBLIC PRESSURE from its members, the Commonwealth Dispensary Association on Monday withdrew its lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s new marijuana home delivery regulations. The trade association representing major marijuana retailers in the medical and recreational industry had filed suit January 13 against the Cannabis Control Commission, and the lawsuit became public late last week. Over the weekend, […]