opioid epidemic

A top Justice Department official is putting cities considering medically-supervised drug injection facilities on notice: If you open one, prepare for swift and aggressive legal action.

With record numbers of fatal overdoses, several cities are working on plans to launch facilities where people can inject illegal drugs with staff on hand to help them if they overdose. Now, however, the Trump administration is vowing a major crackdown.

Months in prison didn’t rid Daryl of his addiction to opioids.

“Before I left the parking lot of the prison, I was shooting up getting high,” he says.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions traveled to Cleveland on Wednesday to announce a series of actions against people accused of illegally distributing opioids.

The steps by the Justice Department target two Ohio doctors, two Chinese citizens and a number of others.

“Today’s announcements are a warning to every trafficker, every crooked doctor or pharmacist, every drug company, every chairman and foreign national and company that puts greed before the lives and health of the American people,” Sessions said.

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams made a plea in April for more Americans to be prepared to administer naloxone, an opioid antidote, in case they or people close to them suffer an overdose.

"The call to action is to recognize if you're at risk," Adams told NPR's Rachel Martin. "And if you or a loved one are at risk, keep within reach, know how to use naloxone."

A confidential government database of drug sales has become crucial to the nationwide opioid lawsuit in federal court in Cleveland.

The Automation of Reports and Consolidated Orders System, known as ARCOS, recorded painkiller sales between manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies at a time when overdose deaths surged nationwide.

Ohio's largest Medicaid plan says the amount of opioids prescribed to its members has decreased 40 percent over the past 18 months.

CareSource announced Monday it plans to reduce that number by 50 percent by the end of this year.

The Dayton-based organization privately manages 1.8 million Medicaid plans. It says it notifies providers who prescribe a large amount of opioids to members, and can identify members at risk for substance misuse.