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Ketamine, long used as an anesthetic or illegal party drug, is being combined with psychotherapy to treat severe depression and post-traumatic stress — a potential tool for those with high trauma rates, like firefighters and police officers. Yet the drug’s stigma and unregulated marketplace leave first responders in uncharted territory.
Barbara Kingsolver won a Pulitzer Prize for her bestselling novel about Appalachia’s drug crisis. She invested some of the proceeds into a home for women trying to beat substance use disorders.
Public health experts and advocates say the outbreak has been fueled by a confluence of local factors, including the sweeping of a homeless encampment and shuttering of a sterile-syringe program. But those issues may not remain local for long. The Trump administration is leading efforts to promote similar tactics nationwide.
California has put a greater focus on behavioral health workers, but a huge spike in demand, an aging workforce, and employee burnout continue to hamper mental health and substance use treatment. The state is tapping Medicaid funds to train, recruit, and retain workers, but it will be a long time before the impacts are evident.
Efforts to decrease alarmingly high rates of suicide among construction workers and prevent burnout in health care workers are in jeopardy after the firing of hundreds of employees at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
A new care center for homeless people on Los Angeles’ infamous Skid Row embraces the principle of harm reduction, a more lenient approach to drug use and addiction. County officials say criminalization only worsens homelessness.
Opioid manufacturers, distributors, and retailers have been paying billions of dollars to settle lawsuits over their role in the overdose epidemic. How to spend the money remains an open question.
President Donald Trump’s budget office says he’ll continue to fund the new 988 suicide prevention hotline, but documents sent to Congress offer clues — amid some mixed messages — about the administration’s approach to two pressing public health issues: mental health and addiction.
More Californians are getting mental health or substance use disorder treatment online or over the phone than in person, according to a Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½Ò•îl Health News analysis of UCLA’s latest California Health Interview Survey. But the telehealth experience isn’t always positive.
Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½Ò•îl Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
The administration is facing a May 12 deadline to declare if it will defend Biden-era regulations that aim to enforce laws requiring parity in insurance coverage of mental and physical health care.
In many cases, the money flowed to addiction recovery programs that help rebuild lives by driving people to medical appointments and court hearings, crafting résumés and training them for new jobs, finding them housing, and helping them build social connections unrelated to drugs.
Fentanyl overdoses occur from ingesting the synthetic opioid. But popular culture has misrepresented the risks to first responders.
Pharmaceutical companies accused of fueling the nation’s opioid crisis are paying state and local governments billions of dollars in legal settlements. But how much are victims who suffered addiction and overdoses getting?
The rate of overdose deaths from opioids has grown significantly among Black people. Yet, even after a nonfatal overdose, this group is half as likely to be referred to or get treatment compared with white people. Advocates and researchers cite implicit bias, insurance denials, and other systemic issues.
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A bill proposed by kratom industry advocates is prompting consideration — and some concern — in the Montana Legislature.
The physical hazards of construction work have long been a focus of safety professionals. Yet attention on the psychosocial hazards is relatively new, with suicide and substance use soaring among male construction workers. Mitigating those risks requires more than hard hats, safety vests, and protective goggles.
As Gov. Gavin Newsom enters the second half of his final term, health care stands out as his most ambitious but glaringly incomplete initiative for California residents. The issue will likely shape his national profile for better or worse. And now, Donald Trump brings a new wrinkle.
The migration of fentanyl into illicit stimulants such as cocaine is especially dangerous for people who are not regular opioid users. That’s because they have a low tolerance for opioids, putting them at greater risk of an overdose. They also often don’t take precautions — such as not using alone and carrying the opioid reversal medication naloxone — so they’re unprepared if they overdose.
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