As part of the city’s fight against opioids, Chicago Police officers will be equipped with naloxone. “Ensuring public safety goes beyond focusing solely on violent crime,” said Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson.

After a public call for Apple to make its smartphones less habit-forming, we take a look at internet addiction in a digital age.

After a storied career of bringing down drug kingpins such as Mexico’s Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Chicago’s top federal drug enforcement official Dennis Wichern is calling it quits.

Starting Thursday, Cook County probation officers will have a new place to refer some of the 20,000 people on probation. For many of them, finding work is critical to staying out of trouble with the law.

From 2011 to 2013, a LaSalle County physician prescribed hundreds of thousands of milligrams of controlled substances to a trio of opioid-dependent patients in exchange for sex, according to a plea agreement.

While the overall population in Cook County Jail is on the decline, one group of detainees is growing: opioid addicts.

Illinois has a goal of cutting opioid-related deaths by one-third by the year 2020. And at the Chicago International Mailing Facility, the focus is on enhanced cargo screening.

The opioid epidemic in Illinois is more acute than in many other states, according to the National Safety Council. We discuss the crisis and a new memorial that highlights the human toll of opioid addiction.

Heroin use has more than doubled in young adults over the past decade. A new study evaluates the cost of that addiction on society at large.

Often when criminal court defendants are placed on probation, they’re sent back to jail if caught using drugs. But in one Cook County courtroom, they’re given a second chance – and sometimes a third or fourth. 

Do you have old prescription medicines in your cabinet? Safely dispose of them at drop-off sites set up by the DEA for Saturday’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.

The Chicago Department of Public Health recently hired a behavioral health medical director to better address substance use disorders and mental health issues in the city. Meet Dr. Elizabeth Salisbury-Afshar and learn more about her role.

The Chicago Sun-Times columnist muses on weathering the holidays without alcohol and his anthology on addiction, “Out of the Wreck I Rise: A Literary Companion to Recovery.”

Planning is underway to open a recovery-based high school designed specifically for students dealing with substance abuse disorders in downtown Chicago next year.

Abuse of opioid-based prescription pain killers, heroin and synthetic substitutes are killing more Americans than ever before. 

A nationwide opioid epidemic is fueling the need for safe disposal of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. What you should know before tossing out your unused medications.