CBS Detroit: State health officials launch smartphone app to help reduce opioid overdoses. “The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is launching a smartphone app to help Michigan residents reduce opioid harm. The OpiRescue app is designed to help anyone prevent opioid misuse and reduce overdose deaths by providing education, prevention and tracking of overdose reversals.”
State of Ohio: Ohio Launches New Data Dashboards to Report Overdose, Substance-Use Measures. “Ohio Governor Mike DeWine today announced that the state has launched new data dashboards to better track and report data on overdose deaths and other substance-use related measures for all 88 Ohio counties.”
Tennessee Department of Health: New Online Resource Connects Tennesseans In Substance-Use Crisis To local Treatment Services. “FindHelpNowTN.org guides individuals to location-based openings and services available at substance use treatment facilities. Site users can search facility listings using up to 60 different features such as the type of treatment needed, insurance programs, payment methods and availability of wrap-around services.”
Bloomberg: FBI Examines Snapchat’s Role in Fentanyl Poisoning Deaths. “Federal agencies are questioning Snapchat’s role in the spread and sale of fentanyl-laced pills in the US as part of a broader probe into the deadly counterfeit drugs crisis.”
Johns Hopkins University: Archive Shows How Fentanyl Promotion Helped Drive Opioid Epidemic. “The Opioid Archive records released today—about 760,000 documents, mostly emails—show that Insys improperly sold vast amounts of its addictive product for off-label uses like non-cancer neck and back pain. The documents also bring to light how the company pressured doctors and deployed deceptive marketing to increase sales and earn millions of dollars in profits.”
STAT News: Biden administration unveils dashboard to track nonfatal drug overdoses. “The Biden administration is rolling out a new tool meant to help prevent drug deaths: a nationwide database that tracks nonfatal overdoses. The dashboard, known as the Non-Fatal Opioid Overdose Surveillance Tracker, will offer fresh insights about overdose rates, the drug supply, and the effectiveness of local emergency response efforts, the White House said.”
University of Hawaii News: Substance abuse in Hawaiʻi tracked by new dashboard. “From overdose deaths to crisis calls in Hawaiʻi, data related to drug trends is now available to the public through a new online dashboard. The Statewide Substance Use, Mental Health and Hawaiʻi CARES Summary is a web site of the Hawaiʻi State Department of Health’s (DOH) Behavioral Health Administration.”
Protocol: How lax social media policies help fuel a prescription drug boom. “The U.S. is almost alone in embracing direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertisements. Nations as disparate as Saudi Arabia, France and China all find common ground in banning such ads. In fact, of all developed nations, only New Zealand joins the U.S. in giving pharmaceutical companies a direct line to consumers. As it so happens, Americans are also highly medicated.”
UCLA: Drug overdose deaths among adolescents rose exponentially during COVID pandemic. “The rate of overdose deaths among U.S. teenagers nearly doubled in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and rose another 20% in the first half of 2021 compared with the 10 years before the pandemic, according to new UCLA research. The trend occurred even as overall drug use remained generally stable.”
NBC News: The internet’s meth underground, hidden in plain sight. “In December, Paul went home for the holidays. Like many people, he hadn’t seen his family for almost a year. But instead of spending time with his loved ones, he said he stayed in his room and injected methamphetamine. While his family was downstairs, Paul said he pretended to be sick while he relapsed in a multiday meth binge. Though he was alone in his room, he was using drugs with other people. As he was injecting methamphetamine, he connected with hundreds of other individuals doing the same thing over Zoom.” Very deep dive.
University of Texas at Austin: First Digital Platform to Track and Prevent Drug Overdoses in Texas Launches. “The rate of opioid and other drug overdoses is on the rise in Texas, but there has been no statewide system to collect overdose data—until now. An interdisciplinary team of developers, designers, clinical partners and researchers led by Dell Medical School and the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin has created a digital reporting and surveillance system to track drug overdoses statewide.”
12 News: Arizona offers tool to help residents find treatment for opioid addictions. “The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System has a new online map that can help residents find providers for treating addictions to opioids. Users can enter their zip code into the AHCCCS website and find a list of nearby recovery centers that offer in-patient treatment programs or doses of Naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal medication.”
NBC News: Tech companies meet with FDA to discuss how to curb sale of opioids online. “Representatives from social media companies including Twitter, Facebook, Snap and TikTok met with the United States Food and Drug Administration on Thursday to discuss how to reduce the availability of opioids online.”
News-Medical: New open-source tool designed to predict drug overdose mortality in the U.S.. “For two decades, the number of Americans who die each year from drug overdoses has steadily risen, from less than 20,000 in 1999 to more than 80,000 in 2020. By studying patterns of these drug-related fatalities, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego State University (SDSU), and international collaborators have designed and validated a prediction model to signal counties at risk of future overdose death outbreaks. The goal of the open-source tool is to predict and prevent deaths through early deployment of public health resources.”
University of Maine: Governor’s Office of Innovation, UMaine, DHHS launch Maine Drug Data Hub . “Maine Drug Data Hub links to data, reports and other dashboards related to drug problems and related Maine policies. It integrates data from public health, public safety, corrections and the judicial system using the 2021 Maine Opioid Response Strategic Plan as a framework. It also provides special ‘use-case’ portals for ease of use by policymakers, media and clinicians.”
The ResearchBuzz Firehose is regular RB content presented as individual posts.
For digest-type posts a couple of times a day, please visit ResearchBuzz.
Want to know how to best use the Firehose for content discovery?
Check out this handy article.