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Researchers think they may have found the first medication treatment for meth addiction, a significant step toward stemming the increase in overdose deaths seen in recent years. A study published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine found that a combination of two medications may be a safe and effective treatment for adults with moderate or severe methamphetamine use disorder. (Hellmann, 1/13)

As rates of methamphetamine overdose soar in the United States, one of the biggest challenges for both people who use stimulants and clinicians is that there are no approved treatments for this type of addiction — unlike the three medications authorized to treat opioid use disorders. But in a new study, researchers found that a combination of two existing drugs — one, a treatment for opioid addiction, and the other, an antidepressant — can help some people who use methamphetamine regularly cut back. (Joseph, 1/13)

The number of people killed on the nation’s highways rose 4.6% in the first nine months of 2020 despite coronavirus lockdowns that curtailed driving early in the year.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 28,190 people died in traffic crashes from January through September of last year, up from 26,941 in the same period of 2019. Final statistics for the full year won’t come out until fall. (1/14)

The RAND Corporation's ongoing survey, COVID-19 and the Experiences of Populations at Greater Risk, measures attitudes toward health, equity and race amid the pandemic. More than 4,000 people participated in the study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Researchers sought adults in lower and middle income households earning less than $125,000. More than half of participants didn’t believe systemic racism is a main reason people of color have poorer health outcomes. Black and Hispanic respondents were more likely to believe it is so, but they also were oversampled in the survey — meaning many of the surveyed people of color also didn't consider it a leading problem. (Hassanein, 1/13)

A line formed out the door during the lunch rush at the Carver Hangar, a family-owned restaurant and sports bar, and waitresses zipped in and out of the kitchen trying to keep up with orders as customers backed up in the lobby. Indoor dining has been banned in much of Oregon for nearly two months, but the eatery 20 miles southeast of Portland was doing a booming business — and an illegal one. The restaurant’s owners, Bryan and Liz Mitchell, fully reopened Jan. 1 in defiance of Democratic Gov. Kate Brown’s COVID-19 indoor dining ban in their county despite the risk of heavy fines and surging coronavirus cases. (Flaccus, 1/13)

KHN: In Search Of A Baby, I Got Covid Instead

As a health care journalist in Los Angeles reporting on the pandemic, I knew exactly what I needed to do once I landed in the hospital with covid pneumonia: write my goodbye emails. I’d seen coverage of some final covid messages during this terrible year. They were usually directed to spouses, but my No. 1 concern was how to explain my own death to my 3-year-old, Marigold, whom we call “Goldie.” How much of me would she remember, and how would she make peace with what happened to me, when I could barely believe it myself? (Almendrala, 1/14)