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When the first phase of the opioid epidemic was cresting in 2010, driven largely by prescription pain medications, white Americans were dying of fatal drug overdoses at rates twice that of Black Americans. In the decade that followed, drug deaths surged again. But this time Black communities faced the brunt of the carnage. "Overdose rates have been growing fastest among Black communities," says Joseph Friedman, an addiction researcher at UCLA. "For the first time we see them overtaking the overdose rate among white individuals." (Mann, 3/2)

Members of the Sackler family who own OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma will get protection from lawsuits for another three weeks, a judge said Wednesday, buying more time to work out a settlement of thousands of legal claims against the company over the toll of opioids. The protections had been set to expire Thursday, but U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain said in a hearing that they’d remain in place through March 23. (Mulvihill and Seewer, 3/2)

A northern New York county is being accused in federal court of needlessly forcing people at its jail into harmful withdrawals by banning a medical treatment for opioid addiction. The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a class action lawsuit Tuesday against Jefferson County. The advocacy group said operators of the county jail largely ban methadone and buprenorphine, despite clear evidence that the medicines can effectively treat what specialists call opioid use disorder. (Hill, 3/2)

KHN: Calls To Overhaul Methadone Distribution Intensify, But Clinics Resist

Patients who take methadone, a synthetic narcotic used to treat opioid addiction, must jump through more hoops than perhaps any other patient group in the U.S. due to rules dating back five decades. Proponents for easing the rules say the pandemic has shown certain constraints serve more as barriers to care than protections. And consensus is growing among clinicians, patients, and regulators that it’s time for change. ... Now officials at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration are considering permanent changes to federal methadone rules. A National Academy of Medicine workshop on methadone regulations on March 3 and 4 may signal an inflection point. (Hawryluk, 3/3)

A physicians group released a report Wednesday saying an increasingly common diagnosis at the center of some high-profile police deaths has no medical or psychiatric basis. The 95-page report, released by the nonprofit group Physicians for Human Rights, calls on Congress to investigate the diagnosis of “excited delirium” and urges professional organizations that have accepted the term to clarify that it is not “a valid medical diagnosis and cannot be a cause of death.” (Stelloh, 3/2)

Powdered baby formula may be linked to at least five infant illnesses, including possibly two deaths, the Food and Drug Administration warned earlier this week. But there may be more cases than have been reported, CBS News has learned. (Battiste, 3/2)

Fitbit is recalling about 1.7 million Ionic smartwatches sold globally because the fitness product's lithium-ion battery can overheat, posing a burn hazard, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced on Wednesday. (Gibson, 3/2)

On July 12, a 5-year-old boy in Georgia arrived at an emergency department following several days of sickness. He'd been vomiting, was weak and had a sore throat. His heart rate was unusually fast. His fever spiked to more than 102 degrees. Doctors admitted the child to the hospital to keep an eye on him and help keep him properly hydrated. That night, his breathing became labored, and he tested positive for Covid-19.Doctors immediately started a typical treatment for the infection, including steroids and an antiviral drug called remdesivir. He did not get better. Within four days of hospitalization, he died. (Edwards, 3/2)

“The Bachelor” alum and fan favorite Demi Burnett announced via her Instagram account last week that she is autistic. “There is a huge stigma when it comes to autism,” Burnett, 27, wrote on Instagram. “I encourage you to be open minded and accepting.” Autism has major diagnostic disparities when it comes to gender. Women are typically diagnosed much later than men. Boys are four times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls. While some researchers believe this disparity may be a result of biological differences, others point to bias in testing and ways that autistic women might present their disability differently. (Luterman, 3/2)