drug abuse

Victims of the opioid crisis, health advocates, and policy experts have called on state and local governments to clearly report how they’re using the funds they are receiving from settlements with opioid companies. So where are Missouri's dollars going?

Drug overdose deaths are dropping across the Kansas City metro area, matching recently announced national trends. It’s a stark reversal from previous years, and health experts hope these positive changes continue.

After decades of devastating increases driven by fentanyl and other toxic street drugs, overdose deaths are dropping sharply in much of the U.S. In Missouri, drug deaths dropped 10% last year, and now the decrease seems to be accelerating.

Missouri child advocates and legislators are alarmed over the sporadic use of a program to steer parents to drug rehabilitation and keep their children out of foster care. It's especially underutilized in Kansas City and St. Louis.

More than two-thirds of local governments had not spent any of the funds they received from suing drug companies and distributors over the opioid crisis. Missouri law requires that the money be used for treatment, prevention and other addiction abatement.

Opioid settlement payouts will be made to thousands of communities across the country over 18 years. Payouts in the Kansas City metropolitan area so far have ranged from $2.4 million to Kansas City, Missouri, to Kansas City to $4,500 to Westwood, Kansas.

Native Americans in Kansas can often face barriers when seeking help for their recovery. A Wichita group is hoping to change that.

Missouri, which earned the infamous nickname of "meth capital of America," played a key role in the drug's spread across the country. A new podcast tells that story.

EMS workers across Missouri are receiving training on how to give overdose victims a dose of buprenorphine, which manages cravings and withdrawal symptoms, after reviving them from an overdose with the overdose reversal drug naloxone.

Substance abuse contributes to around 13% of Kansas children entering foster care. Now, Kansas is testing a new Family Treatment Court in rural counties that will help parents complete addiction treatment and reunite with their kids.

Millions of dollars have flowed into the state of Kansas from opioid settlement funds, which are supposed to go to treatment and prevention. So why are police getting a lot of that money? Plus: A Kansas City musician who turned his grief over his parents' deaths into art.

The state of Kansas expects to receive more than $340 million over the next 18 years from opioid settlement funds. Much of that has gone to state and local law enforcement agencies, despite criticism about how they've handled drug enforcement.