Drugs

There were about 97,000 overdose deaths in year that ended June 30, according to provisional CDC data. That's a 14% decrease from the previous 12-month period.

Billionaire hedge-fund manager Ken Griffin has given $12 million to an effort to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow recreational use of marijuana in Florida. Griffin, CEO of the firm Citadel, announced the contribution Friday in an opinion piece in the Miami Herald, calling the proposed amendment “a terrible plan to create the nation’s most expansive and destructive marijuana laws.”

The shooting death of Kristopher Smith as he sat in his car after dropping off his son at school in January 2013 eventually lead to charges against Robert Lee Ward and his sentencing to life in prison.

Lee County School District begins distribution of Naloxone to all schools to combat potential opioid overdoses

CVS Health is pulling from its shelves some cough-and-cold treatments that contain an ingredient that has been deemed ineffective by doctors and researchers.

Cape Coral City Council recently approved a bid from the Cape Coral Police Department to participate in a Florida Department of Health program that prevents opioid-related deaths.The Helping Emergency Responders Obtain Support Program, or HEROS, provides free doses of naloxone, better known as Narcan, to participating emergency response agencies. Narcan is a nasal spray that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, and has the ability to save lives.

A judge has put on hold key parts of a lawsuit filed by Florida against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, after the federal agency said it expects to make a decision by Oct. 31 on the state’s plan to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada.U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber issued an order Thursday granting the Food and Drug Administration’s request for a stay and noting that a trial is scheduled in November. The stay applies to allegations by Florida that the federal agency violated a law known as the Administrative Procedure Act in its consideration of the plan.

Alcohol often flows freely this time of year, which may be difficult for people trying not to drink.

In its lawsuit, the Agency for Health Care Administration said Florida’s effort to move forward with an importation program “is stuck in the starting blocks” and accused the FDA of dragging its feet.

The plan is for health departments in all 67 counties to have kits with two Narcan nasal sprays that can be administered without a health care provider.