Opioids in Michigan

As a crisis mounts that kills 3,000 per year, Michigan’s counties have been slow to distribute tens of millions of dollars in funds meant to fight the opioid crisis.

While Michigan’s tribes have suffered injury from the opioid epidemic, they haven’t benefited from a landmark lawsuit settlement. Some states give tribes millions; Michigan working on a fix.

As concerns increase about doctors using drugs, the chair of the Michigan Academy of Family Physicians is sharing his story of abuse, offering hope to fellow doctors.

Michigan has made ‘harm reduction’ a focus in spending its opioid settlement funds. Two possible law changes could move that effort forward, better protecting needle-access programs and decriminalizing drug test strips.

For decades, newborns whose moms who took illicit or prescribed drugs have been whisked away to hospital nurseries or neonatal intensive care units for clinical care. But ‘rooming in’ together and skin-to-skin contact could be better for Mom, Baby and taxpayers.

U.S. drug deaths fell last year — ‘heartening’ news, according to the CDC’s medical director. Michigan mirrored that trend. Still, nearly 3,000 people died.

Michiganders living with opioid use disorder have three FDA-approved medications they can turn to for treatment: methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone. Here’s how they work.