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Opioids could kill nearly half a million people across America over the next decade as the crisis of addiction and overdose accelerates. Deaths from opioids have been rising sharply for years, and drug overdoses already kill more Americans under age 50 than anything else. STAT asked leading public health experts at 10 universities to forecast the arc of the epidemic over the next decade. The consensus: It will get worse before it gets better. (Blau, 6/27)

The spiral of opioid addictions and overdoses is unrelenting. But there are bright spots all across the country: Men and women working in classrooms and courtrooms, in private labs and public offices, in clinics and on the street — all trying to find the next big way to save lives. STAT has identified 12 potential game changers that could begin to bend the curve of the opioid epidemic. Some of these are experimental ideas, not yet subjected to rigorous clinical trials or peer review. But they’re intriguing enough that public health experts and addiction counselors are eager to learn more. (Blau, 6/27)

Initiated in the 1980s and until recently a small slice of the criminal justice system, drug courts now number more than 3,000, a sprawling network that touches half the counties in the country. ... Over the past five years, Alkermes has persuaded hundreds of them to favor Vivitrol injections. (MacGillis, 6/27)

President Trump’s commission on the opioid crisis has missed its first deadline. The newly created panel met for the first time on June 16, just 11 days before the White House’s ambitious due date for a preliminary report meant to outline federal strategies to curb the epidemic. An executive order that established the commission had set a 90-day deadline for the completion of that document. The deadline will come and go without a report being filed, and a commission teleconference originally scheduled for Monday evening has been rescheduled for July 17. (Facher, 6/27)

Hospital admissions for heroin overdoses have more than quadrupled since 2010 in Pennsylvania, with the upward trend getting even steeper in the past year, according to a new report that confirmed medical centers are seeing the same distressing patterns as coroners’ offices. The vast majority of the hospitalized patients last year — about 70 percent —  were between 20 and 39 years old, with an average age of 33. But 2 percent of patients were ages 15 to 19. (Sapatkin, 6/28)

Two new strains of fentanyl are so deadly, they may be immune to naloxone, also known as Narcan, the drug used to save those who have overdosed, the GBI said Tuesday in a news release. Acrylfentanyl and tetrahydrofuran fentanyl were not identified by the GBI until March, when the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office submitted the drugs as part of forensic evidence. (Habersham, 6/27)

A pain clinic owner, an office manager and two doctors pleaded guilty and were sentenced this month for their roles in operating “pill mills” — years after federal agents raided three metro Atlanta clinics. ... Prosecutors in the case said the doctors knew, or should have known, that patients were misusing their prescriptions.  (Godwin, 6/27)

Baltimore officials are expected to approve a 15-year lease at the old Hebrew Orphan Asylum in West Baltimore, where they plan to open a center to help people addicted to heroin and other drugs so they're not taking up emergency room beds. The stabilization or sobering center at 2700 Rayner Ave. in Mosher would serve around 30 patients at a time, helping them sober up safely and then connecting them with long-term drug treatment and other social services. (Duncan, 6/27)