Heroin (MAP)

Daily Herald, 25 Jan 2015 - When someone wants treatment to end a heroin addiction, insurance shouldn't hold him back. That's the perspective of addiction treatment professionals who say the biggest issue they face with insurance companies is disagreements over whether a patient meets the medical criteria for a certain type of care.

Boston Globe, 18 Jan 2015 - Opiate addiction is a public health crisis, and Governor Charlie Baker is right to target it as a priority for his administration. But coming up with the right prescriptive for combating it means getting the facts straight from the start. The new governor quickly acknowledged he misstated one part of a tragic story that he relayed during his inaugural address about 19-year-old Evan Greene, who died last January after a fatal overdose of heroin. In his speech, Baker said the young man was prescribed opiates for pain after a routine medical procedure. "Slowly and unknowingly, he became addicted to them," Baker said. "When the prescription ended, he turned to heroin."

La Crosse Tribune, 18 Jan 2015 - BLACK RIVER FALLS - Authorities and community members are becoming increasingly concerned about the prevalence of heroin use and dealing in Jackson County. Use of the highly addictive opiate is rising, based on drug investigations, arrests and other information provided to law enforcement, and its impact in local communities continues to expand, local authorities say.

Washington Post, 12 Jan 2015 - Seizure Data Shows Drug Trade Is Changing SAN YSIDRO, CALIF. - Mexican traffickers are sending a flood of cheap heroin and methamphetamine across the U.S. border, the latest drug seizure statistics show, in a new sign that America's marijuana decriminalization trend is upending the North American narcotics trade.

Daily Mail, 11 Jan 2015 - Almost 30,000 prisoners addicted to drugs were given a heroin substitute last year to feed their dependence, figures show. The drugs were paid for by the taxpayer and given to inmates in a bid to help them kick the habit.

The News-Herald, 11 Jan 2015 - Penny Ashley knew her son had a heroin addiction problem and did everything in her power to get help for him, but it still proved to be not enough. She along with other family members and friends are grieving the loss of Jacob Charles Ashley of Southgate, who died Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015, at the age of 21.

Washington Post, 03 Jan 2015 - Lawmakers Can Take Sensible Steps to Address This Emergency. MORE PEOPLE are killed now by drug overdoses than by homicides in many states, prompting alarmed state lawmakers and attorneys general to search for legislative fixes. The sense of urgency, impelled especially by a spike in lethal heroin overdoses, is justified. Some of the measures proposed to address the problem may not be.

The Economist, 06 Dec 2014 - LOCAL HEROIN Legal Narcotics In A Liberal City THE people queuing up at the Providence Crosstown Clinic are pioneers of a sort. They are heroin addicts whose habits have resisted conventional treatment. They hope to become the first in North America to get their fixes legally as part of a treatment programme rather than just for a clinical trial. "It's heroin that you know is good," says one addict waiting outside, who aspires to join the queue.