USA. More Than 96,000 Drug Overdose Deaths Reported in U.S. in First Year of Pandemic More than 96,000 drug overdose deaths were reported in the United States between March 2020 and March 2021, when the pandemic shut down normal daily routines, acc…

COVID-19-related policy changes for methadone take-home dosing: A multistate survey of opioid treatment program leadership.  Levander XA, Pytell JD, Stoller KB, Korthuis PT, Chander G.  Subst Abus. 2021 Oct 19:1-7. doi: 10.1080/08897077…

Growing racial/ethnic disparities in overdose mortality before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in California.  Friedman J, Hansen H, Bluthenthal RN, Harawa N, Jordan A, Beletsky L.  Prev Med. 2021 Oct 12;153:106845. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed…

Initiating Opioid Use Disorder Medication via Telemedicine During COVID-19: Implications for Proposed Reforms to the Ryan Haight Act.  Huskamp HA, Riedel L, Uscher-Pines L, Busch AB, Barnett ML, Raja P, Mehrotra A.  J Gen Intern Med. 202…

EMCDDA. Spotlight on… Health and social responses to drug problems during the Covid-19 pandemic  What is the issue? On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Since then, the virus has claimed millions of li…

Death, addiction, grace: a year as chaplain in New York’s toughest hospital While training as a chaplain and caring for society’s most vulnerable, I learned that spiritual care is an act of social justice. (The Guardian, UK, 25.10.2021) https://ww…