Clik here to view.
Switzerland fights heroin with heroin
By Taylor Knopf GENEVA and ZURICH, Switzerland — Sarah is a well-dressed, middle-aged English woman living in Geneva with her friendly yellow lab, Maloo. By most accounts, Sarah lives a normal life....
View ArticleInjured workers in rural areas more likely to receive opioid Rx
By Liz Carey Daily Yonder Injured workers in rural areas are more likely to receive prescriptions for opioids, a new study shows. The study by the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI)...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pastors say to address the opioid crisis, expand Medicaid
By Taylor Knopf Rebekah Paulson found God in jail. As a former heroin user with a criminal record, she faced a lot of barriers when she got out. She wanted to attend church but discovered that many in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lawmakers consider ‘Death by distribution’ law
By Taylor Knopf UPDATED 4/11/19: The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the Death by Distribution bill Wednesday afternoon with some changes. It will go to the rules committee before it’s heard on the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New legislation would allow judicial discretion on drug crimes
By Taylor Knopf One of the latest pieces of national criminal justice reform legislation has made its way to North Carolina. The North Carolina version of the First Step Act would give judges more...
View ArticleClik here to view.
As the opioid death count climbs, will North Carolina try what’s worked...
By Taylor Knopf The United States is not the first country to be plagued by heroin and overdose deaths. Western Europe experienced spikes in opioid overdose deaths in the 1980s and 90s. But countries...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In state health report cards, North Carolina falls below average
By Yen Duong North Carolina has continued to perform below average in a national ranking of state health systems, moving from 35th in 2018 to 34th this year. On June 12, the Commonwealth Fund, a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Opioid bills at odds with each other, advocates say
By Taylor Knopf UPDATE 7/10/19: State lawmakers passed the Opioid Epidemic Response Act, which would lift the ban on state money being used to purchase clean injection supplies, which reduce the spread...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Forty-one N.C. counties classified as “high risk” in new opioid study
By Yen Duong While conversations about the national opioid epidemic often focus on hardest-hit states such as Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky, few people have analyzed county-by-county trends, where...
View ArticleClik here to view.
NC needle exchange programs expand their reach despite the odds
By Liora Engel-Smith Roughly three years after syringe exchange programs became legal in North Carolina, more people than ever are receiving clean needles and kits to help them reverse an overdose....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Even as opioids ravage WNC, mountain folks say meth never went away
By Liora Engel-Smith Jesse-Lee Dunlap goes where not even the mail carrier does. The Haywood County resident, who works with the N.C. Harm Reduction Coalition, routinely navigates into dirt pathways so...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A doctor’s tweet, a mother’s complaint, a loss for chronic pain patients.
By Taylor Knopf For Courtney Cates, pain medication is the difference between taking short walks or staying in bed. It’s the difference between talking with her 8-year-old son or passing him notes....
View ArticleClik here to view.
A look ahead for health in N.C. for 2022
COVID, Omicron and children This could be the year that the coronavirus pandemic subsides. However, as 2021 bleeds into 2022 with the Omicron COVID-19 variant sending case numbers soaring and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dentists develop opioid use plan
By Anne Blythe For some college students, the winter break can be a time for visiting doctors and dentists back home. Annual physicals, routine dental cleanings or even the extraction of wisdom teeth...
View Article
