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Latest opioids

This Monday, June 17, 2019, file photo shows 5-mg pills of Oxycodone. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

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State of Alaska accepts $21.5 million opioid settlement

These settlements come less than a year after a settlement agreement with opioid manufacturers that awarded the state…

People assemble Narcan kits on Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021, at Freedom House in Soldotna, Alaska. The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly during their Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, meeting accepted another $30,000 payment as part of a nationwide opioid settlement, which will be put toward opioid remediation in the borough. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

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Assembly accepts 2nd round of opioid settlement funds

The money comes from a nationwide settlement agreement involving major pharmaceutical companies

As measured by the CDC, dispensing rate reflects the number of prescriptions dispensed per 100 persons per year. While the United States’ dispensing rate peaked at 81.3 in 2012, the Kenai Peninsula’s rate was 100 or higher every year between 2001 and 2015. Graphic by Ashlyn O’Hara.

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Borough opioid grant program accepting applications through end of month

The program was launched in August and has not yet received applications

Project Gabe, named after a young man who died of an opioid overdose, aims to bring overdose kits to the fisheries industry in the Southeast. Volunteers assembled 150 kits on Friday, June 10, 2022. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

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‘This is stoppable’: Program works to bring opioid overdose kits to seafood industry

The project began with a tragic death, but proponents hope it can prevent more

Prescriptions drugs, vitamins, hormones, and other drugs left in the drug drop box in the lobby of the Juneau Police Department in September 2019.The drop box gives residents a safe place to disposed of their unused prescription narcotics. The state announced on Thursday it will receive more than $1 million as part of a settlement with a consulting firm accused of “turbocharging” the opioid epidemic. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

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Alaska to receive over $1.3M from opioid settlement

More than 47 states, 5 territories, and D.C. are part of the settlement.

Andy Jones, Director of the Department of Health and Social Services’ Office of Substance Misuse, right, speak about the fiscal impacts of the opioids on the state along with Michael Duxbury, Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, center, and Laura Brooks, Director of Health and Rehabilitation for the Department of Corrections, in front of the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

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The opioid crisis costs Alaska more than $1B per year, and it’s going to keep being costly

The cost of an epidemic.

State sues opioid manufacturer, alleging willful deception

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State sues opioid manufacturer, alleging willful deception

It’s the country’s leading opioid producer.

Andy Jones, director for the Alaska Office of Substance Misuse and Addiction Prevention, speaks during a community meeting in the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall on Tuesday, March 27, 2018, on what Juneau needs to fight opioid misuse. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)

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State making progress in fight against opioid addiction

As statewide public safety officials unveiled crime statistics Wednesday, they expressed optimism in one main category: the state’s…

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Alaska Department of Labor to use $1.2 million grant for opioid response

The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development plans to use $1.2 million from the federal government for…