Important Opioid Crisis Links 2

Here are several new links to important articles about the opioid crisis. Topics include: Police who find treatment facilities for addicts; a woman who raises money to give away Narcan; and how technology is helping pharmacies cope with overprescription.

1. We really do have a solution to the opioid epidemic — and one state is showing it works
   https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/5/10/17256572/opioid-epidemic-virginia-medicaid-expansion-arts
   

2. Needle exchanges help combat the opioid crisis. So why was the one in Orange County shut down?
   https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/5/29/17389048/needle-exchange-opioid-epidemic-orange-county
   

3. She paid nothing for opioid painkillers. Her addiction treatment costs more than $200 a month.
   https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/science-and-health/2018/6/4/17388756/opioid-epidemic-health-insurance-buprenorphine
   

4. Congress Is Writing Lots of Opioid Bills. But Which Ones Will Actually Help?
   https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/upshot/congress-is-writing-lots-of-opioid-bills-but-which-ones-will-actually-help.html
   

5. California is now paying for people to test their drugs for fentanyl
   http://www.latimes.com/health/la-me-ln-fentanyl-test-strips-20180531-story.html
   

6. Technology Is Helping Pharmacies Combat The Opioid Epidemic
   https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/06/08/technology-is-helping-pharmacies-combat-the-opioid-epidemic/#19c5959d5da1
   

7. ‘The Police Aren’t Just Getting You In Trouble. They Actually Care.’
   https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/06/02/the-police-arent-just-getting-you-in-trouble-they-actually-care-218586
   

8. They Shared Drugs. Someone Died. Does That Make Them Killers?
   https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/us/drug-overdose-prosecution-crime.html
   

9. If Addiction Is a Disease, Why Is Relapsing a Crime?
   https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/opinion/addiction-relapse-prosecutions.html
   

10. An ‘Overprescription of Opioids’ That Led to a Crisis
    https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/06/opioid-epidemic/563576/
    

11. Unbroken – Since losing his son to opioids, Gary Mendell has been on a mission to shake up the system
    https://www.philanthropy.com/interactives/shatterproof
    

12. This is the only safe way to treat opioid users
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/this-is-the-only-safe-way-to-treat-opioid-users/2017/08/17/e94b1ea2-6d90-11e7-9c15-177740635e83_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.adec5e46a3aa
    

13. Heroine Of Heroin Tracey Helton Mitchell & Her Life-Saving Narcan Kits Profiled By NBC News
    https://www.thefix.com/heroine-heroin-tracey-helton-mitchell-her-life-saving-narcan-kits-profiled-nbc-news
    

14. Addiction killed my son. I live on an island surrounded by grief.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/addiction-killed-my-son-i-live-on-an-island-surrounded-by-grief/2018/06/22/64dc95a8-69c3-11e8-9e38-24e693b38637_story.html?utm_term=.de312823c90f