Sep 15, 2018 - Health

Government survey shows drop in new heroin users in 2017

Five-year-old Derrick Slaughter at a march against the heroin epidemic in Ohio. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Trump administration officials believe efforts in fighting the opioid crisis are working, after a new government survey showed a decrease in the number of new heroin users, the Associated Press reports.

The details: There were 81,000 new heroin users in 2017, compared to 170,000 in 2016, the survey showed, and more people are seeking treatment for addiction. The amount o users in 2017 is "similar to the numbers...in 2002 through 2008," per the AP. But addiction researcher Brendan Saloner, at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told the AP it's "hard to look at this and not think we need to be doing a better job than we're doing now."

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Axios
Updated 7 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 10 p.m. ET: 32,471,119 — Total deaths: 987,593 — Total recoveries: 22,374,557 — Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 10 p.m. ET: 7,032,524 — Total deaths: 203,657 — Total recoveries: 2,727,335 — Total tests: 99,483,712 — Map.
  3. States: "We’re not closing anything going forward": Florida fully lifts COVID restaurant restrictions — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam tests positive for coronavirus.
  4. Health: Young people accounted for 20% of cases this summer.
  5. Business: Coronavirus has made airports happier places —The expiration of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance looms.
  6. Education: Where bringing students back to school is most risky.
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Mike Allen, author of AM
10 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Biden pushes unity message in new TV wave

A fresh Joe Biden ad, "New Start," signals an effort by his campaign to make unity a central theme, underscoring a new passage in his stump speech that says he won't be a president just for Democrats but for all Americans.

What he's saying: The ad — which began Friday night, and is a follow-up to "Fresh Start" — draws from a Biden speech earlier in the week in Manitowoc, Wisconsin:

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Jonathan Swan, Alayna Treene, Sam Baker
10 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Trump prepares to announce Amy Coney Barrett as Supreme Court replacement

Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Photo: Matt Cashore/Notre Dame University via Reuters

President Trump is preparing to nominate federal appeals court Judge Amy Coney Barrett of Indiana, a favorite of both the social conservative base and Republican elected officials, to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Republican sources tell Axios.

Why it matters: Barrett would push the already conservative court further and harder to the right, for decades to come, on the most important issues in American politics — from abortion to the limits of presidential power. If confirmed, she would give conservatives a 6-3 majority on the high court.

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