Opioids

Fentanyl is driving an overdose crisis that’s proving especially deadly for Black Missourians. Now Kansas City is starting to see the effects, but health experts say that existing efforts to treat substance use disorder aren’t helping the people who need it most.

Nearly 500 people died of drug overdoses in Kansas in 2020. But the state lacks a Good Samaritan law encouraging people to call 911 if a friend is overdosing. These legal safeguards have been shown to save lives. Plus, a new study found that the attitudes of gun owners are not as rigid as many people might think.

Existing syringe exchange programs in St. Louis and Kansas City, allowing drug users to swap out used syringes with new clean ones to help fight diseases like HIV, have functioned for decades in a "grey area" of the law.

Evidence is mounting that good Samaritan laws save lives. Kansas is one of just a few states without a law to encourage people to call 911 if a friend is overdosing.

Dozens of state and local jurisdictions had sued Johnson & Johnson and three other drug distributors, alleging they downplayed the addictive nature of opioid painkillers. Proceeds of the settlement will go directly to addiction treatment and prevention programs.

Since August 2020, more than 200 people have started treatment for drug addiction at the Crawford County Jail. Most continued their treatment after leaving jail.

Drug users who think they're taking one substance sometimes unknowingly take fentanyl that's mixed in to increase potency. Small doses of fentanyl can kill.

The pandemic brought on a multitude of issues, but one that fell by the wayside was the opioid and drug overdose crisis.

Nearly 800 Missourians died of opioid overdoses in the first half of 2021, and there's one major cause: the synthetic opioid fentanyl. Plus, emails show how quickly the state of Kansas bent to a company’s wishes to keep information out of public view, reflecting a disturbing national trend.

Nearly 800 Missourians died from opioid overdoses in the first half of 2021. In Columbia, a rash of overdose deaths has pushed the community to change its attitude on harm reduction efforts.

Dr. Steven M. Simon admitted that he told a drug representative he would stop selling one of their drugs unless the company hired him for paid speaking engagements.

Some in public health now argue that when providers use such monitoring programs to cut off prescription opiate misuse, people who have an addiction instead turn to heroin and fentanyl.