Amanda Seyfried plays a police officer investigating the disappearance of her sister in Long Bright River. Matt Infante/Peacock hide caption
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opioid crisis
McKinsey and Company has agreed to pay $650 million to settle federal civil and criminal probes into alleged wrongdoing linked to "turbocharging" opioid sales on behalf of Purdue Pharma. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Esther Nesbitt lost two of her children to drug overdoses, and her grandchildren are among more than 320,000 who lost parents in the overdose epidemic. Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images hide caption
Officer Yoo gives a citation to a man he stopped for using fentanyl in public. Yoo said handing out citations doesn't appear to move people from using drugs on the streets into treatment programs. Kristyna Wentz-Graff/OPB hide caption
Oregon pioneered a radical drug policy. Now it's reconsidering.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, has introduced legislation with Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, to put guardrails around the use of billions of opioid settlement funds. Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag hide caption
Advocates and victims of the opioid crisis gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 4, 2023, while the justices hear a case about Purdue Pharma's bankruptcy deal. The protesters urged justices to overturn the deal, which would give the Sackler family immunity against future civil cases related to opioids. Aneri Pattani/KFF Health News hide caption
Last year, more than 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses. Advocates and family members marked the tragic toll with cardboard grave markers on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 23. Aneri Pattani/KFF Health News hide caption
States and counties nationwide are using opioid settlement funds for law enforcement efforts, including buying new squad cars. This draws criticism that the funds should be invested in treatment instead. Douglas Sacha/Getty Images hide caption
Law enforcement eyes opioid settlement cash for squad cars and body scanners
This photo provided by the U.S. Attorneys Office for Utah and introduced as evidence in a 2019 trial shows fentanyl-laced fake oxycodone pills collected during an investigation. AP hide caption
Mallinckrodt says it is considering its financial alternatives, including a second bankruptcy, and might not make a $200 million opioid payment later this week. Whitney Curtis/AP hide caption
Drugmaker Mallinckrodt may renege on $1.7 billion opioid settlement
The Food and Drug Administration is weighing a decision to make naxolone, pictured here in nasal spray form as Narcan, available over the counter without a prescription. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption
CVS would pay nearly $5 billion over 10 years, while Walgreens would pay $5.7 billion over 15 years, in a settlement over their roles in the opioid crisis. Keith Srakocic/AP hide caption
A drug overdose rescue kit is pictured in Buffalo, N.Y. The Biden administration plans to increase access to clean needles, fentanyl test strips and naloxone to combat drug overdose deaths. Carolyn Thompson/AP hide caption
A heroin user in a South Bronx neighborhood which is experiencing an epidemic in drug use, especially heroin and other opioid based drugs. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption
Black Americans are now dying from drug overdoses at a higher rate than whites
Most of the funds from the settlement with manufacturers and distributors of opioids such as oxycodone will go to health care and drug treatment programs designed to ease the opioid crisis. Keith Srakocic/AP file photo hide caption
4 U.S. companies will pay $26 billion to settle claims they fueled the opioid crisis
Johnson & Johnson and the opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen, McKesson and Cardinal Health reached a settlement with Native American tribes over their role in the opioid crisis. Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Trucks drive in front of Teva Pharmaceutical Logistic Center in the town of Shoam, Israel, on Oct. 16, 2013. On Thursday, a jury held Teva responsible for contributing to the opioid crisis. Dan Balilty/AP hide caption
Activists participate in a candlelight vigil calling for an end to the nation's opioid addiction crisis at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., in August 2017. Alex Wong/Getty Images hide caption
More than a million Americans have died from overdoses during the opioid epidemic
Shell neurons (green) project to the breathing center and core neurons (red) project to the pain/emotion center. Brain scientists have found the two are linked, shedding new light on opioid overdoses Salk Institute hide caption
A brain circuit linking pain and breathing may offer a path to prevent opioid deaths
A drug user prepares to inject himself with heroin inside VANDU's supervised injection room in Vancouver, Canada. Similar sites to the ones implemented in New York have proven successful in Canada. Rafal Gerszak for NPR hide caption
New York City allows the nation's 1st supervised consumption sites for illegal drugs
Betsy, played by Kaitlyn Dever, and Dr. Samuel Finnix, Michael Keaton, discuss her first Oxy prescription for back pain from a workplace injury. Antony Platt/Hulu hide caption
Bridget Meyer, played by Rosario Dawson, is in the field investigating pill mills in a recent episode of Hulu's Dopesick. Gene Page/Hulu hide caption
In a ruling issued late Monday, Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter J. Wilson found the companies, including Johnson & Johnson, aren't "legally liable" for the opioid crisis. SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty hide caption
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. says the opioid crisis had disproportionately affected people in his community. Sue Ogrocki/AP hide caption