Opioids

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?

Kansas is one of the worst in the nation when it comes to drug-induced deaths for teens and young adults. Heidi Tomassi’s son is an overdose survivor and she’s sharing their story with Olathe kids in hopes it might change the approach to drug awareness.

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.

The Kansas Department of Corrections is using opioid settlement funds to pay for a program to reduce opioid overdose deaths. Opioids like fentanyl are a major driver of rapidly rising overdose deaths in Kansas. Also, headlines from across the metro.

The Kansas Department of Corrections is using opioid settlement funds to pay for a program aimed at reducing opioid overdose deaths. Opioids like fentanyl are a major driver of rapidly rising overdose deaths in Kansas.

The head of the agency that oversees the Missouri Children’s Division says he wants investigators to treat evidence of fentanyl as an imminent danger to kids.

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.

A state report found that 20 children under 5 died of fentanyl or in combination with other substances. It found that Children's Division investigators, who are tasked with following up on claims of abuse and neglect, “lacked essential procedures, missed warning signs and left vulnerable children at risk.”

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.

Vending machines have become one of the latest tools in the fight against the opioid crisis. Kansas residents can access the naloxone, a medicine designed to rapidly reverse an opioid overdose, by simply inputting their ZIP codes on the machine’s keypad.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced a plan Tuesday to add 200 Missouri National Guard members and 22 state highway patrol troopers to the 250 guardsmen already deployed to southern border. Parson blames the Biden administration's border policies for the fentanyl crisis in Missouri.