Martha Bebinger

Emergency room doctors are just beginning to study a new kind of casualty in the opioid epidemic — patients who survive an overdose, but walk away with brain damage, kidney failure or dead muscle.

People who abuse opioids are well aware of the risk posed by fentanyl, a powerful anesthetic that's increasingly slipped into heroin and other drugs. They're coming up with new tactics to survive.

Law enforcement is scrambling to get ahead of the opioid, which is far more chemically potent than heroin. Most illegal fentanyl is made in China. As soon as one version is outlawed, another pops up.

So far this year, more than 1 in 4 donations in New England are from people who died after a drug overdose — a much higher rate than in the U.S. overall, though it's not clear why.

Studies suggest that smoking heavily in adolescence may affect brain function in adulthood, but there's a dearth of hard evidence for voters contemplating pot's long-term effects.

As doctors and nurses learn more about what the body goes through during drug use, they are changing the treatment they provide for patients on heroin and other drugs.

A Boston health clinic that treats transgender kids and teens finds that the percentage of its young patients who are adopted is higher than expected. These kids might need extra support, doctors say.

The FDA has approved the Probuphine implant for medication-assisted therapy for opioid addiction. It lasts for six months, compared to daily pills. But it also will be more expensive.

A refrigerator-sized machine could someday make lifesaving drugs on site when outbreaks occur or where medicine is in short supply, like on the battlefield.

The FDA could soon approve an implantable form of a drug used to treat opioid addiction. While the approach helped patients avoid relapse in tests, its price may be prohibitive for some, doctors say.