Substance-abuse providers are curtailing treatment and 10 percent have even shut down during the pandemic due to virus outbreaks, contributing to a spike in drug overdoses and fatalities. The New York Times takes a closer look at the impact of reduced services, noting that the advent of tele-health practices have helped but that virtual treatment cannot fully replace the benefits of in-person interactions. Nearly half of treatment centers in the U.S. have reduced patient capacity and nearly a third saw a decrease in patient retention, while 44 percent are conducting half their programming remotely. The majority of closures have been in the Northeast, due to the outbreak’s early concentration in New York.
Meanwhile, pharmacists at Walmart say they raised red flags for years about the retail chain’s in-store pharmacies doling out prescription opioids that appeared to be illegal—and were ignored. They are speaking out as the Justice Department pursues legal action against Walmart, saying its 5,000 pharmacies routinely filled billions of highly-addictive pills without proper safeguards and therefore contributed to the decades-long opioid epidemic (Walmart denies the charges).
And finally, Mexico is poised to legalize marijuana, making it the third country to do so —after Canada and Uruguay—and potentially the world’s largest market for cannabis with 88 million adults. With both Canada and Mexico now having legal cannabis, this could put pressure on the U.S. to follow suit, and accelerate the legalization movement beyond the 15 states that have so far legalized recreational marijuana. Legalization in Mexico won’t, however, have an impact on the country’s notorious drug cartels, analysts say, as cannabis makes up only a small percentage of their activities.