"opioids"

New provisional data released this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that drug overdose deaths declined in 14 states during the 12-month period that ended July 2017, a potentially hopeful sign that policies aimed at curbing the death toll may be working.

Opioids are a public health emergency, the president says, but he hasn’t acted on the White House opioid commission’s recommendations to expand treatment.

Opioids were a main driver in roughly 1,200 drug overdose deaths in Philadelphia last year. That’s four times the city’s murder rate. It’s time, some officials say, to supervise, not criminalize.

The opioid epidemic caused U.S. life expectancy to fall for the second year in a row, marking the first time that has happened since the early 1960s. Death rates also continued to rise.

A state program is tackling the opioid epidemic in Alaska, but some worry it could have negative side effects.

President Donald Trump took a major step in dealing with the opioid epidemic killing tens of thousands of Americans a year. “I am directing all executive agencies to use every appropriate emergency authority to fight the opioid crisis,” the president proclaimed Thursday.

The move stops short of declaring a national emergency, which the president had pledged to do.

Drug companies and doctors have been accused of fueling the opioid crisis, but some question whether insurers have played a role, too.