A woman reached for a dose of methadone at the Behavioral Health Network opioid treatment clinic. Boston Globe via Getty Images/ hide caption
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President Trump and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have moved to slash funding for addiction treatment programs and research, saying the money should instead be spent on efforts to "Make America Healthy Again." Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/Getty Images North America hide caption
The state of Virginia has seen drug overdose deaths plunge by more than 40% in a single year. Many other states are seeing improvements above 30%. Why is this happening? Researchers say it may be a combination of factors, some hopeful and some painful. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption
US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., himself in long-term recovery from opioid addiction, says a national emergency declaration linked to opioid overdose deaths will be extended past Friday's expiration date. JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images/AFP hide caption
Elena (left) and Vadim pose for a photo in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Feb. 26. Rachel Wisniewski for NPR hide caption
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says faith-based, 12-step and farm- or camp-centered programs should be a major part of the U.S. addiction response. Here, he visits the First Baptist Church food pantry in New York City last year. John Nacion/Getty Images hide caption
(Photo Illustration by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Scott Olson/Getty Images hide caption
FDA moves to make all cigarettes less addictive with lower nicotine
Moderate drinkers who also take weight-loss drugs like Mounjaro, report drinking less alcohol, a new study finds. AzmanJaka/Getty Images hide caption
Social drinkers cut back on alcohol when on obesity drugs
A homeless encampment in Los Angeles in July 2024. Qian Weizhon/VCG via Getty Images hide caption
The hope was that bringing many other services to people with high needs would stabilize their health problems. While the strategy has succeeded sometimes, it hasn't saved money. Douglas Sacha/Getty Images hide caption
How do you help patients who show up in the ER 100 times a year?
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken speaks Friday at the 67th Session of the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, Austria. Theresa Wey/AP hide caption
Drug-related street crime in Portugal has dropped along with overdoses. "There's an impression in the U.S. that if you decriminalize drugs, it's a wild west," said Miguel Moniz at the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon. "That hasn't been the case in Portugal." Brian Mann/NPR hide caption
Guillermo A. Santos on his high school graduation day in 2021, with his father, Guillermo Jose Santos. The elder Santos died later the same year of a drug overdose. The Santos-Honkala Family hide caption
Matt Capelouto, whose daughter died from a fentanyl overdose, speaks at a news conference outside the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, April 18, 2023. Capelouto is among dozens of protesters who called on the Assembly to hear fentanyl-related bills as tension mounts over how to address the fentanyl crisis. (AP Photo/Tran Nguyen) Tran Nguyen/AP hide caption
In 2023 fentanyl overdoses ravaged the U.S. and fueled a new culture war fight
Mental health courts have sprung up around the country. Getty Images hide caption
Well-intentioned mental health courts can struggle to live up to their goals
Louise Vincent has used street drugs since she was 13. She has emerged as a leading voice trying to humanize and help people who use drugs as they face the most devastating overdose crisis in U.S. history. April Laissle/NPR hide caption
One woman's controversial fight to make America accept drug users for who they are
Matthew Perry onstage at the Emmy Awards on Sept. 23, 2012 in Los Angeles. Phil McCarten/Invision/AP hide caption
LaShonda Jefferson (left), a community health educator, talks with a woman who drops off used needles into a bin on the van. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption
Nick Barrera says stigma from the medical system has kept him from accessing critical health care. Katia Riddle/Katia Riddle hide caption
The settlement deal with Indivior, which makes an addiction treatment medication called Suboxone, ends a legal battle with 41 states and the District of Columbia. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption