BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee will stop covering the prescription opioid OxyContin beginning January 1, 2019.

Students at Boston-based Harvard Medical School unveiled a photography exhibit at Brigham and Women's Hospital, also in Boston, illustrating  the narratives of local community members affected by the opioid epidemic, according to The Harvard Crimson.

The medical marijuana company Cresco Labs placed a pop-up style vending machine in Chicago Sept. 5 to advocate for alternative pain relief in the opioid epidemic, according to AdWeek.

Walk down the hall on 2 East at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, and the magnitude of the opioid epidemic will hit you.

Ketamine, an increasingly popular depression treatment, affects the brain like fentanyl and oxycodone, according to a study published in The American Journal of Psychiatry.

Purdue Pharma will donate $3.4 million to the nonprofit drug company Harm Reduction Therapeutics to develop a cheaper opioid overdose antidote.

The U.S. Department of Justice plans to crack down on U.S. cities that are considering opening medically-supervised drug injection sites to curb increasing rates of fatal drug overdoses, according to NPR.

The Senate will likely pass a comprehensive bill addressing the opioid crisis within the next few weeks, according to STAT.

Many companies and scientists are stepping up developmental efforts to make less addictive pain medications amid the ongoing opioid epidemic, according to Science.

Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor agreed to pay $4.3 million to resolve allegations of mishandling its prescription drug inventory. 

The hospital patient shows telltale signs of opioid withdrawal – feverish, shaking uncontrollably, crabby and irritated, crying out in anguish.

The FDA is taking steps to encourage drug manufacturers to pursue the creation of nonaddictive opioid alternatives for pain management, according to The Washington Post.

Federal health officials on Aug. 28 instructed 21 websites to stop selling "potentially dangerous, unapproved and misbranded" opioids online, according to CNBC.

Some states are successfully lowering opioid overdose death rates, despite a national increase, through thoughtful approaches to help individuals with opioid use disorder, according to an editorial written by The New York Times' editorial board.

Providence-based  Rhode Island Hospital received a $11.8 million federal grant to create a opioid and overdose research center to better understand addiction and develop possible treatment methods, the hospital announced Aug. 23.

Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital entered into a research collaboration with ideas42, a nonprofit behavioral design laboratory.

CMS created a new payment and service delivery model to improve care quality for children under age 21 affected by the opioid epidemic, the agency announced Aug 23. 

The U.S. Department of Justice took three major actions Aug. 22 to combat the opioid epidemic as part of a crackdown prompted by President Donald Trump.

Substance abuse centers in New Orleans are struggling to treat and provide shelter for the surge of people battling opioid use disorder, according to Nola.com.

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, MD, in April asked Americans to learn how to administer the opioid overdose antidote naloxone due to the rising cases of opioid overdoses. This prompted NPR to conducted a national poll, gauging Americans knowledge of naloxone.