opioids

The school board vote comes after nearly a year of activism by a small group of high school students in Durango. School district administrators envision a policy that promotes training and limits legal exposure for schools.

Durango’s 9R school district has proceeded cautiously on whether to permit students to carry an opioid-reversal drug called Narcan. The district has expressed concerns about possible adverse situations if Narcan is used improperly. Medical experts told us there aren’t any overdose scenarios where Narcan shouldn’t be used.

The use of Narcan – a life-saving drug that reverses opioid overdoses – has gone up in Cortez in the last year. That’s according to Dennis Delaney, a paramedic at Southwest Memorial Hospital. And lawmakers have been appointed to a new state committee looking at rising utility rates.

Overdoses and overdose deaths are on the rise in Southwest Colorado, including here in Montezuma County. Many of the overdoses are the result of the opioid fentanyl, which is often mixed with illicit street drugs.

Last week’s winter storm brought snowpack levels up to 85% of the seasonal median in the Dolores River Basin and the storm this weekend could bring levels up to 100% of the median. And law enforcement has detected a “particularly deadly” batch of the synthetic opioid Fentanyl circulating in San Miguel county.

Nearly 40 states in the U.S. are expected to accept a $26 billion settlement from pharmaceutical companies, including Johnson & Johnson.

In a landmark ruling, Judge Thad Balkman ruled in favor of Oklahoma in its lawsuit to hold the drugmaker accountable for the costs of opioid addiction in the state.

The maker of OxyContin will pay to settle a historic opioid lawsuit brought by the attorney general of Oklahoma. Will other drugmakers named in the lawsuit follow?

Officials in San Juan County, New Mexico, are mulling the idea of suing pharmaceutical companies over the cost of the opioid crisis. The Farmington Daily…

The Navajo Nation is suing various companies involved in the production and sale of opioid drugs.According to a release, the tribe filed the suit in U.S.…