Drug abuse
Pastor Marsha Hawkins-Hourd, a community leader in St. Louis, drives past a man standing on a sidewalk in a neighborhood known to locals as a gathering spot for drug use on Tuesday, May 18, 2021. Hawkins-Hourd describes the vacant buildings in the neighborhood as a symbol of addiction and a community thrown away. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
In pandemic, drug overdose deaths soar among Black Americans

By Claire Galofaro Jun. 24, 2021 02:33 PM EDT

Pastor Marsha Hawkins-Hourd, a community leader in St. Louis, drives past a man standing on a sidewalk in a neighborhood known to locals as a gathering spot for drug use on Tuesday, May 18, 2021. Hawkins-Hourd describes the vacant buildings in the neighborhood as a symbol of addiction and a community thrown away. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
In pandemic, drug overdose deaths soar among Black Americans

Claire Galofaro Jun. 24, 2021 02:59 AM EDT

Utah County Commissioner Bill Lee listens to a speaker during a commission meeting held at the Utah County Administration Building on Sept. 30, 2020, in Provo Utah. One of the many negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in Utah County and throughout the state and county has been an increase in opioid abuse. A local public health expert told the Utah County Commission that the rate of opioid-used disorder had leveled off in recent years, but in 2020 abuse increased nationwide. (Isaac Hale/The Daily Herald via AP)
Opioid abuse up during pandemic, expert tells Utah County

By Connor Richards Jun. 19, 2021 08:00 AM EDT

US urges world to ensure HIV services for LGBTQ community

By Edith M. Lederer Jun. 10, 2021 06:51 PM EDT
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the world’s nations Thursday to ensure equal access to HIV services to those most at risk of...

An elevated walkway leading from the Miami-Dade County Pre-Trial Detention Center to the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building is shown, Friday, June 4, 2021, in Miami. By the middle of 2020, the number of people in jails nationwide was at its lowest point in more than two decades, according to a new report by the Vera Institute of Justice, whose researchers collected population numbers from about half of the nation’s 3,300 jails to make national estimates. But the numbers have begun creeping back up again as courts are back in session and the world begins returning to a modified version of normal. It’s worrying criminal justice reformers who argue that the past year proved there is no need to keep so many people locked up in the U.S. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Jails emptied in the pandemic. Should they stay that way?

By Weihua Li And Beth Schwartzapfel Of The Marshall Project And Michael R. Sisak Of The Associated Press Jun. 07, 2021 10:00 AM EDT

Editorial Roundup: West Virginia

By The Associated Press Jun. 02, 2021 01:30 PM EDT
(Huntington) Herald-Dispatch. June 1, 2021. Editorial: Local addiction treatment programs need continued support The...

Kentucky AG sues CVS Health over state's opioid problems

By Bruce Schreiner Jun. 02, 2021 11:37 AM EDT
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky's attorney general on Wednesday sued CVS Health, accusing its pharmacy chain of flooding the state with prescription opioids...

This image released by Red Table Talk shows TV personality Kelly Osbourne, who will appear in an episode of the talk show series to discuss her battle with drug and alcohol addiction. The episode will be available on Wednesday, June 2 on Facebook Watch. (Jordan Fischer/Red Table Talk via AP)
Kelly Osbourne opens up about drug and alcohol addictions

By Mark Kennedy Jun. 01, 2021 10:00 AM EDT

A healthcare worker injects a teacher with a dose of the CanSino COVID-19 vaccine, on the grounds of the National Polytechnic Institute, in Mexico City, Tuesday, May 18, 2021. Mexico is mounting a final push to get all of the country's school teachers vaccinated so that it can reopen schools, perhaps by June. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
The Latest: Las Vegas Strip rules to end for vaccinated

By The Associated Press May. 18, 2021 02:02 AM EDT

Teens with substance abuse disorder get $1M boost from state

May. 13, 2021 12:19 PM EDT
BOSTON (AP) — Three organizations across the state are sharing nearly $1 million in grants to help teenagers either struggling with or at risk of developing...

Editorial Roundup: Ohio

By The Associated Press May. 10, 2021 09:00 AM EDT
Akron Beacon Journal. May 9, 2021. Editorial: $20 million can’t reduce Akron’s gun violence without innovation, clear plan ...

Theresa Guerrero, of Tucson, Ariz., raises a candle in memory of those lost to drug overdoses during an event in Gilbert, Ariz., on March 31, 2021. Her son died of a fentanyl overdose last May, and she says his struggles with drugs were exacerbated by isolation brought on by the pandemic. (Alberto Mariani/Cronkite News via AP)
Tragedies pile up with drug overdoses surging amid pandemic

By Jamie Landers May. 08, 2021 10:00 AM EDT

Vermont gets $12M in COVID relief for drug abuse programs

May. 06, 2021 04:35 PM EDT
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The state of Vermont is getting $12 million in COVID-19 relief funds so communities can strengthen substance abuse programs, officials...

Editorial Roundup: New York

By The Associated Press Apr. 30, 2021 02:05 PM EDT
Plattsburgh Press-Republican. April 28, 2021. Editorial: New York to lose congressional seat New York again will lose...

FILE - This July 23, 2018 file photo shows packets of buprenorphine, a drug which controls heroin and opioid cravings, in Greenfield, Mass. The U.S. government is easing requirements that made it difficult for doctors to treat opioid addiction using the medication. New guidelines announced Tuesday, April 27, 2021, mean doctors will no longer need eight hours of training to prescribe buprenorphine. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
US lifts barriers to prescribing addiction treatment drug

By Carla K. Johnson Apr. 27, 2021 09:34 AM EDT

Editorial Roundup: West Virginia

By The Associated Press Apr. 20, 2021 09:29 AM EDT
Recent editorials from West Virginia newspapers: ___ April 20 The Intelligencer on profound changes...

Steven Ash, 33, works at the tire shop his family owns in Huntington, W.Va., Wednesday, March 17, 2021, and where he overdosed just days before. Ash was 19 when he took his first OxyContin pill and his life spiraled after that. The last year has been particularly brutal. He took more drugs to numb the pain, but it made things worse, a vicious cycle, he said, but he isn't sure how to escape it. He knows he's putting his mother through hell. "I fight with myself every day. It's like I've got two devils on one shoulder and an angel on the other," he said. "Who is going to win today?" (AP Photo/David Goldman)
A city wrestled down an addiction crisis. Then came COVID-19

By Claire Galofaro Apr. 08, 2021 01:03 AM EDT

Larrecsa Cox, who leads the Quick Response Team whose mission is to save every citizen who survives an overdose from the next one, peers around a stairwell while walking through an abandoned home frequented by people struggling with addiction, in Huntington, W.Va., Thursday, March 18, 2021. As the COVID pandemic killed more than a half-million Americans, it also quietly worsened what was before it the country's greatest public health crisis: addiction and despair. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
A city wrestled down an addiction crisis. Then came COVID-19

By Claire Galofaro Apr. 08, 2021 01:02 AM EDT

People wear face masks as they queue in front of the vaccination center in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, March 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
The Latest: Trump blasts Fauci and Birx as 'self-promoters'

By The Associated Press Mar. 29, 2021 05:27 AM EDT

West Virginia to get $2.4M in federal HIV prevention funding

Mar. 19, 2021 04:22 AM EDT
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia will receive nearly $2.4 million from the federal government to fund HIV prevention and treatment. The state is...