Breaking News

Opioid crisis

Drugmakers push back against calls to tax opioids

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Facing a rising death toll from drug overdoses, state lawmakers across the country are testing a strategy to boost treatment for opioid addicts: Force drug manufacturers and their distributors to pay for it. Bills introduced in at least 15 states would impose taxes or fees on prescription painkillers. Several of the measures have bipartisan support and would funnel millions of dollars toward treatment and prevention programs. In Montana, state Sen. Roger Webb, a Republican, sees the approach as a way to hold drugmakers accountable for an overdose epidemic that in ...

Attorney: Recovery houses protected

Homes where people in the recovery process stay after detoxing are becoming more numerous and have stirred up controversy in one local neighborhood where township officials have an attorney researching their options. “The goal is to get them shut down,” said Edward Anthony, Warren ...

Donald Trump has tough talk on drugs

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Embracing the tough penalties favored by global strongmen, President Donald Trump on Monday brandished the death penalty as a fitting punishment for drug traffickers fueling the opioid epidemic. The scourge has torn through the rural and working-class communities that in large numbers voted for Trump. And the president, though he has come under criticism for being slow to unveil his plan, has seized on harsh sentences as key to stopping the plague. “Toughness is the thing that they most fear,” Trump said. The president made his announcement in New ...

Drug distributors push back on proposed rules

COLUMBUS — Companies that distribute drugs are pushing back on stricter regulation in Ohio, protesting what they call a patchwork approach that could lead to confusion and uncertainty, records show. The state pharmacy board should wait for new federal regulations before enacting state rules, including some that could violate federal law, the companies say in documents obtained by The Associated Press through a records request. “A ‘patchwork’ system of differing regulations between and among states and the federal government will only lead to more problems,” Gary Cacciatore, ...

New detox facility to offer evidence-based treatment

WARREN — A new addiction treatment facility opening up on Warren’s northwest side is taking the lessons learned from the evidence-based model of one of Warren’s existing facilities. FSR Parkman is set to start accepting clients Feb. 19 at its 4390 Enterprise Drive location, and staff is already assessing clients to fill the 16-bed treatment center that will offer detoxification services, along with outpatient and extended-stay treatment. Scott Wilkes, owner and CEO of the new facility, is new to the treatment facility business. The Akron-based geologist from the oil and gas ...

Governors ask Trump to do more on opioid crisis

CHERRY HILL, N.J. — Less than three months after President Donald Trump declared the U.S. opioid crisis a public health emergency, the nation’s governors are calling on his administration and Congress to provide more money and coordination for the fight against the drugs, which are killing more than 90 Americans a day. The list of more than two dozen recommendations made Thursday by the National Governors Association is the first coordinated, bipartisan response from the nation’s governors since Trump’s October declaration. The governors praised him for taking a first step, ...