U.S. sees record high of 96,000 drug overdose deaths in 12 month period

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recorded over 96,000 deaths from drug overdoses in a twelve-month period ending in March 2021, according to provisional data released Wednesday.

Why it matters: It’s a nearly 30% jump over the preceding 12 months and coincides with one of the deadliest periods of the COVID-19 pandemic, when stay-at-home orders radically changed daily life for most Americans.

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• In July, the CDC reported that drug overdoses had hit a high in 2020, in large part due to the increased prevalence of the synthetic opioid fentanyl.

Of note: The data presented is provisional as many cases require “lengthy investigation” to confirm a cause of death, per the CDC.

By the numbers: The reported number of overdoses in the 12-month period ending in March 2021 was 96,779. The predicted number of cases for the same period is 99,106 deaths.

• It’s a 29.6% increase in reported deaths from March 2020.
• All but 3 states saw increases in overdose deaths with Vermont experiencing the largest – 85.1% – jump.

What they’re saying: “It is important to remember that behind these devastating numbers are families, friends, and community members who are grieving the loss of loved ones,” Regina LaBelle, acting director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, told CNN.

Watch: A conversation on COVID-19 and America’s opioid crisis

Go deeper: Fentanyl is the deadliest drug in the U.S.

• Explore Axios’ complete coverage of the opioid crisis

Source: https://www.axios.com/cdc-record-drug-overdose-deaths-march-2021-7a7d2ca6-aee0-49c8-a5b2-f60bd1fca2f7.html
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Noah Garfinkel

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Silicon Valley’s biggest fraud, Elizabeth Holmes, is on trial

Jury selection begins Tuesday in the criminal trial of Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder and former CEO of Theranos.

Why it matters: The case will draw a bright line between “fake it ’til you make it” and outright fraud.

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Flashback: Theranos billed its tech as the holy grail of blood testing, making it possible to run hundreds of assays from just a pinprick.

• It once was valued at $9 billion and raised more than $700 million from investors like Tim Draper, Carlos Slim and Rupert Murdoch. Its board included former Henry Kissinger, Jim Mattis and George Shultz.
• The company struck partnerships with Safeway and Walgreens, and Holmes became a regular presence on national business magazine covers.
• But a series of exposés by the Wall Street Journal’s John Carreyrou revealed that Theranos’ tech didn’t work as advertised, that it secretly used commercially available blood analyzers, and that it falsified information shared with regulators.
• Since then, Holmes and the company have been sued by investors, Walgreens and the SEC. It’s also voided two years of test results and dissolved its operations.

Between the lines: The role of due diligence—or lack thereof—is a central point of failure in the Theranos story.

• Theranos had just a couple of experienced VC investors and only two board members with medical experience (albeit not in phlebotomy).
• Google Ventures founder Bill Maris once revealed that GV passed after a team member took a Theranos test at Walgreens (Holmes has disputed this).
• Holmes cleverly used one credible supporter’s backing to get the next one, and then the next one, all while evading close scrutiny (or even sharing audited financials).
• Notably, the company told prospective investors in 2014 that the company was on track to break even and generate $100 million in revenue. It brought in little more than $100,000 for that period.

The bottom line: Theranos is the biggest fraud to have ever come out of Silicon Valley, dwarfing other tales of malfeasance. It not only took investors for hundreds of millions of dollars, but it also put thousands of people’s health at risk.

Source: https://www.axios.com/silicon-valley-fraud-trial-theranos-elizabeth-holmes-4cf45ae1-a01a-4d80-8f41-07928d9830a4.html
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Kia Kokalitcheva

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Vicious Vancouver coyotes may be high on opioids

Vancouver residents are warned to avoid Stanley Park following three coyote attacks in four days. These attacks follow dozens of other scary encounters with abnormally aggressive coyotes in the park. According to University of Calgary conservationist and coyote expert Shelley Alexander, there’s a confluence of factors likely behind the animals’ unusual actions. — Read the rest

Source: https://boingboing.net/2021/08/23/vicious-vancouver-coyotes-may-be-high-on-opioids.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=vicious-vancouver-coyotes-may-be-high-on-opioids
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The Article Was Written/Published By: David Pescovitz

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Analysis: Marijuana Legalization Opponents’ Fears Have Not Come to Fruition in Canada

The analysis finds that there has been “no marked increase in cannabis youth by use” in the three-year period following legalization.

The post Analysis: Marijuana Legalization Opponents’ Fears Have Not Come to Fruition in Canada appeared first on NORML.

Source: https://norml.org/blog/2021/08/17/analysis-marijuana-legalization-opponents-fears-have-not-come-to-fruition-in-canada/
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The Article Was Written/Published By: NORML

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Opium: Afghanistan’s drug trade that helped fuel the Taliban

Taliban are involved from poppy planting, opium extraction, trafficking to charging smugglers export fees.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/8/16/opium-afghanistans-illicit-drug-trade-that-helped-fuel-taliban
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Pfizer Raises Price of Covid-19 Vaccine by 25% in Europe: Report

Pfizer is raising the price of its covid-19 vaccine in Europe by over 25% under a newly negotiated contract with the European Union, according to a report from the Financial Times. Competitor Moderna is also hiking the price of its vaccine in Europe by roughly 10%.

Read more…

Source: https://gizmodo.com/pfizer-raises-price-of-covid-19-vaccine-by-25-in-europ-1847383399
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Matt Novak

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Long-acting drugs to prevent HIV may be key to beating the epidemic

New forms of pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, could be used by groups who find daily preventive medications too burdensome.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/long-acting-hiv-prevention-drugs-may-be-key-beating-epidemic-n1274887
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Benjamin Ryan

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Maine authorities seized cocaine disguised as cake, arrested two

Maine authorities have arrested two people in connection with smuggling $200,000 worth of cocaine, which was disguised as a cake,…

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/564236-maine-authorities-seized-cocaine-disguised-as-cake-arrested-two
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Olafimihan Oshin

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J&J and others reportedly on verge of $26bn US opioid settlement

• Drugmaker and distribution companies said to be close to deal
• Thousands of lawsuits filed by victims of over US opioid crisis

The three biggest US drug distribution companies and the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson are on the verge of a $26bn settlement covering thousands of lawsuits over the toll of opioids across the US, two people with knowledge of the plans told the Associated Press on Tuesday.

Related: White House calls for social media firms to be ‘held accountable’ for Covid misinformation – live

Continue reading…

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/20/opioid-drug-settlement-johnson-and-johnson-crisis-deal
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Guardian staff and agencies

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Pfizer recalls some Chantix products across US over possible cancer risk

Chantix, a prescription drug designed to help adults break their smoking habit, has been recalled by Pfizer, the company behind the product. A dozen lots of the medication have been recalled across the US over the potential presence of a nitrosamine impurity above the company’s acceptable daily intake limit. The impurity that spurred this recall is called N-nitroso-varenicline; it is … Continue reading

Source: https://www.slashgear.com/pfizer-recalls-some-chantix-products-across-us-over-possible-cancer-risk-19683058/
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Brittany A. Roston

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U.S. overdose deaths hit record 93,000 in pandemic last year

The estimate far eclipses the high of about 72,000 drug overdose deaths reached the previous year and amounts to a 29 percent increase.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-overdose-deaths-hit-record-93-000-pandemic-last-n1273933
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The Article Was Written/Published By: The Associated Press

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Walmart Rolls Out a Cheaper Insulin

Insulin is expensive. Really expensive. Like hundreds-of-dollars per vial expensive. Expensive enough that some diabetes patients can’t afford their monthly dose. And now Walmart, of all companies, is stepping in to make the drug a bit more affordable.

Read more…

Source: https://gizmodo.com/walmart-rolls-out-a-cheaper-insulin-1847193399
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Shoshana Wodinsky

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Supreme Court: First Step Act snubs some drug offenders

A widely touted 2018 law aimed at reducing sentences for drug offenders and addressing racial disparities in punishment offers no relief to many serving long federal prison terms, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday.

The justices held that while the First Step Act allows retroactive reductions for those serving mandatory-minimum drug sentences, it does not apply to cases where judges had greater discretion but still imposed long terms.

The decision means some sentenced for distribution of relatively small quantities of crack cocaine may see no benefit from the law, while those who dealt larger amounts got their sentences shortened by an average of almost six years.

Although then-President Donald Trump signed the law and often complained he wasn’t given enough credit for doing so, during his administration the Justice Department endorsed the narrower view of the law that the court backed Monday.

In March, after President Joe Biden took office, the Justice Department reversed its position in the case and argued that the law does allow sentence reductions for lower-level offenders. Authors of the law and drug-sentencing reform advocates also endorsed that interpretation.

But no member of the high court agreed.

Justice Clarence Thomas disposed of the case in a relatively brief, eight-page opinion that said the law was unambiguous and the arguments to broaden it were contorted.

“We will not convert nouns to adjectives and vice versa,” Thomas wrote.

The case that reached the high court involved a Florida resident, Tarahrick Terry, who was convicted in 2008 of an offense involving about 4 grams of crack cocaine. Terry was not sentenced under the federal guidelines for drug offenses, but others covering defendants deemed to be “career offenders.” He got a 15-year term, which was the bottom of the recommended range.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed a separate opinion, saying she agreed with her colleagues’ reading of the law but could not endorse Thomas’ recitation of the history of penalties for crack cocaine and the discrepancy with the treatment of powdered cocaine, including Congress’ decision in 1986 to impose 100 times greater punishment on crack offenders.

“It includes an unnecessary, incomplete, and sanitized history of the 100-to-1 ratio,” Sotomayor said of Thomas’ opinion. “The full history is far less benign.”

Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/14/supreme-court-first-step-act-drug-offenders-494309
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I wrote the bill to decriminalize psychedelic drugs in California. Here’s why.

The so-called war on drugs was a racist, anti-science failure. But policymakers can change that, and states like mine can lead the way.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/california-s-psychedelic-drug-decriminalization-long-overdue-i-wrote-bill-ncna1268577
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Scott Wiener

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San Francisco could break drug overdose record

San Francisco could potentially break its record for drug-related deaths, one year after it recorded its deadliest year for overdoses….

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/554985-san-francisco-could-break-drug-overdose-record
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Joseph Choi

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Medina Spirit, winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby, fails drug test

The horse’s trainer Bob Baffert announced the news in a press conference on Sunday morning.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/medina-spirit-winner-2021-kentucky-derby-fails-drug-test-n1266780
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Ben Kesslen

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US trial opens against companies accused of stoking opioid crisis

West Virginia lawsuit accuses drug distributors of fuelling opioid epidemic with excessive shipments of painkillers.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/3/us-trial-opens-companies-accused-stoking-opioid-crisis
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MindMed to become second psychedelic drug developer to go public in the U.S.

MindMed tomorrow is set to become the second psychedelic drug developer to go public in the U.S., with a third right around the corner.

Why it matters: Wall Street is eagerly volunteering for a high-risk trip, tempted by a massive addressable market for mental health treatments.

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The big bet: Most clinical-stage biotech bets are binary, but MindMed has the added challenge of its active ingredient being considered Schedule 1 drugs. In other words, it needs to worry as much about the DEA as the FDA.

• Another complicating factor is that MindMed believes its products should be taken under medical supervision, although it’s unclear if FDA approval would accept telepresence in lieu of in-person.
• In other words, this is a very different legalization process than with cannabis, which is as much about recreational use as it is medical use.

Capital markets: New York-based MindMed went public last year on Toronto’s NEO Exchange, after failing to secure a second round of VC funding.

• “VCs had blinders on when they saw those three letters: LSD,” says MindMed founder and co-CEO JR Rahn. “We got laughed out of most rooms. Where we found patient capital was up in Toronto.”
• Rahm adds that the move to Nasdaq will allow institutional investors to take larger positions in the company, although it will keep its NEO listing active.
• Fellow psychedelics developer Compass Pathways went public last year and currently has a $1.33 billion market cap. ATAI Life Sciences, backed by Peter Thiel, just filed for its own IPO.

The bottom line: Psychedelics have been studied for decades, but were mostly ignored by investors until the past year. What seems to have changed in the past year was the pandemic, which increased public awareness of the scale of mental health ailments, and the relative paucity of available treatments and treatment infrastructure.

Source: https://www.axios.com/psychedelic-drug-developer-mindmed-public-1b3a5fa9-d6e0-4272-b0f3-3f89f0dcfe41.html
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Dan Primack

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Baltimore drops prosecution of low-level crimes, including prostitution, drug possession

The city of Baltimore will no longer prosecute certain low-level crimes, including prostitution, drug possession and minor traffic violations, State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced Friday. …

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/545218-baltimore-drops-prosecution-of-low-level-crimes-including-prostitution
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Celine Castronuovo

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Phoenix family discovers 5,000 fentanyl pills inside daughter’s thrift store toy

The child’s parents were cleaning the Glo Worm doll when they found a sandwich bag filled with the drugs, according to police.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/phoenix-family-discovers-5-000-fentanyl-pills-inside-daughter-s-n1258595
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Wilson Wong

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