The rapid growth of prediction markets has sparked a high-stakes debate that is playing out in courts and legislatures all over the country.

Once a niche interest, prediction markets have broken through to a wider audience. Now, lawmakers and the public are trying to adapt to a world where people can bet on almost anything.

The current Kratom Control Act in Illinois from 2014 only prohibits its sale to minors under the age of 18, but it does not require any labeling, testing standards, licensing or additional taxation.

The bill would allow trained library workers to administer opioid antagonists to potential overdose victims on library grounds, in the immediate vicinity of libraries and at library events.

The settlement comes after a complaint filed in Chicago’s federal court alleged Walgreens pharmacists filled illegal prescriptions for excessive quantities of opioids and prescriptions for a particularly dangerous combination of drugs.

State officials say the Trump administration is pulling back $477 million aimed at preventing infectious disease and treating mental health and substance abuse issues.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. criticized the department he oversees as an inefficient “sprawling bureaucracy” in a video announcing the restructuring Thursday. He faulted the department’s 82,000 workers for a decline in Americans’ health.

It’s the first new pharmaceutical approach to treating pain in more than 20 years, offering an alternative to both opioids and over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen and acetaminophen.

Alcohol is a leading cause of cancer, a risk that should be clearly labeled on drinks Americans consume, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy proposed on Friday.

Illinois will receive a $40 million share of a $1.4 billion bipartisan national settlement with Kroger over the grocery chain’s role in the opioid crisis, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced.

The first big update to U.S. methadone regulations in 20 years is poised to expand access to the life-saving drug starting next month, but experts say the addiction treatment changes could fall flat if state governments and methadone clinics fail to act.

There were about 101,000 overdose deaths in the year ending in April, CDC estimates. There are still far more lives being lost now than before the pandemic – in 2019, there were about 72,000 fatal overdoses – but the latest data shows that deaths dropped a marked 10% in one year and are the lowest they’ve been since the spring of 2021.

Alcohol is still more widely used, but 2022 was the first time this intensive level of marijuana use overtook daily and near-daily drinking, said the study’s author.

Experts reacted cautiously. One described the decline as relatively small, and said it should be thought more as part of a leveling off than a decrease. Another noted that the last time a decline occurred — in 2018 — drug deaths shot up in the years that followed.

In the same decade, two unassuming middle-aged men – Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith – joined forces to create Alcoholics Anonymous. A play at the Biograph Theater explores that time. 

The rise in opioid deaths is largely due to the increase in synthetic opioids like fentanyl, says law enforcement officials.