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Substance dependence

a box of tissues and medical tray on a metal board

In Canada, some doctors are prescribing heroin to treat heroin addiction

Health & Medicine

Like the US, Canada has been wrestling with a growing drug crisis. Deaths from overdoses have reached unprecedented levels, up to nearly 4,000 last year. In response, the government has pledged more resources for addiction services — including the use of prescription heroin.

women at a prison

As opioids land more women in prison, Ohio finds alternative treatments

Lifestyle
OxyContin

The family that helped start the opioid crisis

Medicine
Three addicts preparing to smoke heroin under a bridge in Kabul’s Pol-e Sokhta neighborhood.

There’s almost no help for Afghanistan’s 1.6 million drug addicts

Health

Researcher urges U.S. officials to rethink drug policy

Global Politics

Canada’s First Nations communities wrecked by OxyContin addiction

Health & Medicine

Fort Hope, Ontario, is one of a handful of communities in Canada where addiction to the powerful narcotic painkiller OxyContin runs rampant. An estimated 80 percent of working-age adults there abuse the prescription drug, and it’s stretching the resources of the community and leading the drastic increases in crime.

The World

How an Afghan Methadone Clinic is Fighting to Counter HIV

Conflict & Justice

HIV is spreading among Afghanistan’s injection drug users, and a methadone clinic was recently opened in Kabul to help the problem.

The World

An unlikely inmate looks back on her time in prison

Arts, Culture & Media

When Piper Kerman graduated from Smith College she fell in with a group of drug smugglers. Despite eventually settling into a normal career, five years later she was arrested for drug smuggling and served a year in prison.

The World

Neuroeconomics: This is your financial system on drugs

Business, Economics and Jobs

Neuroscientist Dr. Gregory Berns has likened America’s financial system to a drug addict. If the drug is money, and if the financial sector is in withdrawal, what would the stimulus package mean for Wall Street?