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Several lawmakers are pushing to repeal or revisit a law critics say enables the flow of deadly and addictive opioids, hours after President Trump’s drug czar nominee withdrew his name amid the controversy. The little-noticed legislation is reportedly undermining the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) ability to police drug distributors and was heavily influenced by industry lobbying, according to a joint Washington Post and “60 Minutes” investigation published Sunday.  The report was based in part on a high-ranking whistleblower within the DEA. (Roubein, 10/17)

A Los Angeles congresswoman who co-sponsored a controversial law that has hobbled the Drug Enforcement Administration said Tuesday that the head of the agency personally assured her that the measure would not hamstring law enforcement efforts. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), an original co-sponsor of the bill, called Tuesday for an investigation into whether the law is harming enforcement against “bad actors” and requested hearings to examine whether she was misled. (Higham and Bernstein, 10/17)

In the wake of The Washington Post/“60 minutes” investigation detailing how 2016 legislation passed by Congress weakened the Drug Enforcement Administration’s ability to go after drug distributors, even as opioid-related deaths continue to rise, Sen. McCaskill has led the charge for repealing the law. Already, President Trump’s choice for drug czar, Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), withdrew his nomination after the report exposed his role in spearheading the bill’s passage through Congress. (Kessler, 10/17)

The nation’s opioid epidemic has unleashed a secondary outbreak: the rampant spread of hepatitis C. New cases of the liver disease have nearly tripled nationwide in just a few years, driven largely by the use of needles among drug users in their 20s and 30s, spawning a new generation of hepatitis C patients. Because a treatment that cures the disease costs tens of thousands of dollars, is limited by insurance and Medicaid, and is mostly unavailable to people who are still using illicit drugs, there probably will be financial and public health ramifications for decades to come. (Zezima, 10/17)

President Donald Trump plans to officially declare the opioid epidemic a national emergency by next week, two months after first announcing a pledge to do so. "We are going to have a major announcement, probably next week, on the drug crisis and on the opioid massive problem and I want to get that absolutely right," Trump said during a news conference Monday. Some have criticized the delay in declaring the opioid crisis a national emergency, saying a declaration would immediately release resources to help municipalities and states in their efforts. More than 500,000 people have died from drug overdoses from 2000 to 2015. The deaths are occurring at an average of 91 deaths a day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Johnson, 10/17)

A legislative committee studying Iowa’s opioid epidemic heard testimony today on a serious side effect of increased heroin use in the state. Addicts share needles to shoot heroin, and public health experts say that has contributed to a large increase in hepatitis C cases in Iowa. (Russell, 10/17)

The number of babies who were exposed to opioids in the womb jumped by 200 percent in Florida between 2015 and 2016 — to more than 2,500 cases — the biggest spike in the past decade, according to state data. But the number of newborns statewide who were diagnosed with opioid-withdrawal symptoms known as neonatal abstinence syndrome dropped by 68 cases to 1,468, bucking the past decades’ trend of steady increase. (Miller, 10/17)