QULIN, Mo. (AP) — Methamphetamine is on the upswing in Missouri, including rural communities that the drug has already ravaged over decades, according to state officials and individuals recovering from addiction. Sgt. Mark McClendon of the Missouri Highway Patrol told KCUR-TV that meth is reaching places and people in the state that it never has…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill says federal drug enforcement officials didn’t hold major drug distributors accountable while prescription opioids flowed into Missouri between 2012 and 2017. McCaskill released a report Wednesday that she says found three major distributors reported wildly different numbers of suspicious shipments of opioids to the U.S. Drug…
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — While opioid related deaths continue to increase in Missouri, the growth rate is slowing down, according to a new report. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services found that there was a 4.7 percent increase in opioid deaths from 2016 to 2017, the Columbia Missourian reported. That rate is much…
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Legislature has approved a bill aimed at directing more people away from prisons and toward treatment programs. The bill, approved by the House Wednesday 138-11, creates a pilot program in Butler, Buchanan, and Boone counties to treat people struggling with addiction who might otherwise be incarcerated. The bill…
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) — Gov. Bruce Rauner has signed legislation aimed at combating fraudulent opioid prescriptions by requiring drug prescribers to use a database containing patient prescription histories. The measure Rauner signed Wednesday requires prescribers with an Illinois Controlled Substance License to register for and use the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program. The database…
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Gov. Eric Greitens has made his first appointment to the state’s medical licensing board as his administration works to get a database that can identify problem prescribers off the ground. Dr. Katherine Mathews will start working on the licensing board immediately and then have an official confirmation hearing in the…
By JILL COLVIN and CARLA K. JOHNSON, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — In ringing and personal terms, President Donald Trump on Thursday pledged that “we will overcome addiction in America,” declaring opioid abuse a national public health emergency and announcing new steps to combat what he described as the worst drug crisis in U.S. history. Trump’s…
St. Charles County, MO (KTRS) Efforts continue to raise awareness about the dangerous heroin and opioid epidemic in our country. On Tuesday evening, Francis Howell High School hosted a Town Hall meeting to educate the community on this issue. About 100 people gathered in the school’s auditorium, where they were presented with a reenactment of…
Poplar Bluff, MO (KTRS) Tainted heroin in Poplar Bluff may be linked to St. Louis. Police in Poplar Bluff are concerned that tainted heroin, possibly laced with fentanyl, is on the streets of the southeast Missouri town. This is in response to one death and five overdose calls in recent days. Police Chief Danny Whiteley…