Opioid Epidemic

Dr. Raeford Brown was uniquely positioned to help the U.S. government answer a critical question: Is a new version of the painkiller OxyContin helping fight the national opioid epidemic?

U.S. overdose deaths last year likely fell for the first time in nearly three decades, preliminary numbers suggest.

Newly released federal data shows how drugmakers and distributors increased shipments of opioid painkillers across the U.S. as the nation's addiction crisis accelerated from 2006 to 2012.

Seven states and more than 60 prosecutors and other law enforcement officials are opposing efforts by Philadelphia's top federal prosecutor to block a proposed drug injection site from opening in Philadelphia.

Fourteen people have been arrested in what authorities called their largest operation to date combating the opioid epidemic in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood.

State authorities say they've broken up a major fentanyl and heroin production mill in northern New Jersey that's been linked to dozens of overdoses, including 33 deaths.

New Jersey's Human Services Department says more than 32,000 doses of naloxone were distributed this week as part of its initiative to provide the opioid antidote at pharmacies in the state.

Legislation to further clamp down on powerful painkiller prescriptions in Pennsylvania has the state Senate's approval, although Democrats tried unsuccessfully to put limits on an exception for major surgery.

Federal authorities have charged 27 people involved in what they say is a large-scale drug ring that operated out of an abandoned house in Newark and brought in as much as $13,000 in one day.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy says the state will be handing out doses of the opioid antidote naloxone later this month.

An opioid overdose antidote spray was not in stock in most Philadelphia pharmacies during a 2017 survey, and the shortage was greatest in predominantly minority neighborhoods and areas with the most fatal opioid overdoses, according to a study released Friday.

A giant, 800-pound opioid spoon sculpture will be in Philadelphia Saturday as part of a tour to memorialize those who have lost their fight against opioid addiction.

A prosecutor reportedly told jurors that a Pennsylvania mother killed her baby by lacing the child's sippy cup with fentanyl so she could “relax and smoke marijuana.”

A new opioid response team in Philadelphia is pairing paramedics with social service case workers with the goal of getting overdose survivors into treatment.

Gov. Tom Wolf says preliminary statistics are pointing to a decrease in overdose deaths in Pennsylvania last year, as his administration suggests the opioid crisis might be starting to wane in some parts of the state.