Opioids

The Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday that the overdose-reversing drug Narcan was approved for over-the-counter sales. Missouri residents can already get the drug without a prescription from a pharmacy.

As part of the new county budget, five social services organizations will receive funding for their work with unhoused people, drug rehabilitation and behavioral health programs. The groups say the money will help them serve hundreds more people suffering from substance abuse.

Opioid overdoses spiked during the pandemic and recovering from addiction can take years and involve multiple relapses. One Kansas man explains how access to medical care has played a pivotal role on his path to recovery.

Thirty-four-year-old Tanner first tried opioids as a teenager. Since then, he says doctors have helped him by prescribing medications that reduce cravings.

Kyrie Fields is charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and tampering with a motor vehicle in connection with her alleged involvement in a hit-and-run accident that left Charles Criniere dead.

Those in favor of the ordinance said the current system through the city’s municipal courts negatively impacted younger people caught with marijuana, and could hurt their future employment opportunities.

In 2021, drug overdose deaths increased by 43% from the previous year in Kansas and constituted the No. 1 cause of death among adults aged 18 to 44 in Missouri. An addiction treatment center in Paola, Kansas, that opens its doors this month hopes to help reverse those trends.

Alex Tretbar spent five years in prison for his part in a drug-related shooting. His award-winning poetry takes inspiration from incarceration, addiction and The Velvet Underground.

The Kansas City Police Department says officers have seen an increase in accidental fentanyl-related overdoses in individuals ages 15 to 24.

Kansas is one of just a few states without a good Samaritan law that encourages people to call 911 when they witness a drug overdose, and it doesn’t permit syringe service programs that provide sterile injection equipment.

From January 2019 to January 2020, 1,597 Missourians died from overdoses. Over the next 12 months, that number increased to 1,952, according to CDC data. However, a federal grant to help Missouri purchase and distribute naloxone has expired.

Fentanyl overdose deaths in the Kansas City area have soared recently. But some health care providers say Missouri is unprepared to deal with this new phase of the opioid crisis. Plus, the University of Kansas men's basketball team are NCAA champions.