opioid crisis

For people seeking medication-assisted treatment for substance use disorder in some rural Washington communities, there could soon be more options. Recent grant funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been allocated to develop medication-assisted treatment (MAT) at rural clinics.

In downtown Tacoma, Rachel Ahrens said she sees drug use and abuse frequently.“I've personally seen somebody that was just slumped up against the door and looked to be like an overdose,” said Ahrens, who is the building administrator for First United Methodist Church. “I didn't have Narcan at that time, so I wasn't able to administer that. So I had to call 911, for them to help the individual.”

(Runtime 3:33) Like much of the nation, Benton and Franklin Counties are experiencing a dramatic increase in the number of people dying from overdoses and…

Three large opioid distributors will pay the state of Washington $476 million as part of an agreement to end litigation that began more than three years ago.

On Monday in a federal courtroom in Cleveland, Ohio, the nation's legal reckoning over the opioid crisis shifts to four name-brand pharmacy chains: CVS, Giant Eagle, Walgreens, and Walmart.

Critics say the settlement doesn't hold company executives or members of the Sackler family accountable for their aggressive marketing of OxyContin, which helped fuel the nation's opioid epidemic.

Kratom, an herb that's abundant, legal in most states and potentially dangerous, is the subject of an ongoing debate over its risks and benefits.

John Kapoor, the former billionaire who founded drugmaker Insys Therapeutics, is among the executives to be sentenced for racketeering.

This was meant to be the year we answered a big question about the deadly opioid epidemic: Will drug companies that make and sell prescription pain medications be held liable? That clarity never came.

According to a court filing Monday, the family pulled about $10.7 billion from Purdue since 2008 — ramping up withdrawals even after executives pleaded guilty to misleading regulators about OxyContin.