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The generic drug-maker Mallinckrodt says the company's board might not make a $200 million opioid settlement payment scheduled for later this week. In a June 5 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the financially troubled firm said it faces growing questions internally and from creditors about the payout, which is part of a $1.7 billion opioid deal reached as part of a bankruptcy deal last year. (Mann, 6/12)

Federal authorities in 2018 temporarily placed all substances related to fentanyl in a category reserved for the most dangerous controlled substances, an effort to stymie drug traffickers. Five years later, the number of overdose deaths linked to synthetic opioids is as high as ever, and critics say efforts to make the classification permanent will entrench harsh sentencing laws. With frustration mounting about the toll of fentanyl, the debate has sparked clashing political approaches. On Tuesday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) plans to introduce legislation extending the temporary measure for up to two years for existing fentanyl-related substances and for up to four years when new analogues emerge. (Ovalle and Roubein, 6/13)

The parents of Sgt. 1st Class Ronald Conley Jr. want to know how many days their son lay dead on his bathroom floor from fentanyl poisoning without the Army noticing. Kue Vue’s brother questions how the straight-laced sergeant turned to drugs. Spec. Ari McGuire’s parents wonder why he wasn’t immediately sent to treatment when he suffered withdrawal symptoms in a training exercise. None of the families expect they will get all the answers about how the men died from fentanyl, a lethal synthetic opioid that has hit the Army the hardest among military branches and caused a record number of fatal overdoses among soldiers in 2021, the last complete year of data available, according to new figures obtained by The Washington Post. (Kornfield, Rempfer and Rich, 6/12)

Overdose deaths have been consistently rising in Alaska for the past several years. Most of that is due to illegal fentanyl. ... Coleman Cutchins is a lead pharmacist for the state health department. He said the risk profile of counterfeit pills is alarming. He said it’s not safe to take a pill that wasn’t prescribed for you. “Honestly, we’re at the point where the risk of somebody handing you a tablet that looks like a medication [if] you don’t know where it came from, is a very similar risk to somebody handing you a syringe with a needle on it and saying, ‘Inject this,’” said Cutchins.