Several weeks before Indiana’s state health commissioner Jerome Adams was nominated to replace Vivek Murthy as U.S. Surgeon General, Adams toured a detox center in Indianapolis with Justin Phillips, founder of Overdose Lifeline - a grassroots organization focused on preventing opioid deaths. “I asked him to accompany me to see first hand some of the treatment and recovery work that's being done within Indianapolis,” says Phillips .

Medicaid spending on three important medications used to treat opioid addiction increased 136 percent nationwide between 2011 and 2016, according to a new report from the Urban Institute, a public policy think tank based in Washington D.C. The increases were much higher in some states—in seven states, rates rose more than 400 percent.

This week: Faced with a tight budget and increases in overdose calls, one Ohio town official is proposing a limit on lifesaving OD treatments. Plus: A new study suggests tobacco retailers target low-income neighborhoods, and an artist's near-death experience turned into an opportunity to create medical music.

This week from Side Effects

Mere days before he announced he had been nominated for the position of U.S. Surgeon General, Indiana State Department of Health Commissioner Jerome Adams penned an op-ed  for the USA Today newspaper network outlining his commitment to harm reduction initiatives, most notably syringe exchange programs.

President Donald Trump has nominated Indiana Health Commissioner Jerome Adams for the U.S. Surgeon General position.

More than 50 people gathered outside Republican U.S. Senator Todd Young’s Indianapolis office today for what’s known as a “die in.”  The protest centered on the Republican health care bill.

The group held painted grave markers and laid down on the side walk outside Young’s downtown office building.

Catherine Osborne drove from South Bend to be at the event. She’s worried about the future of Medicaid.

A woman was taken to the hospital Monday afternoon after she says U.S. marshals dragged her out of a protest at Senator Todd Young’s Indianapolis office.

Northwest Indiana resident Lorrell Kilpatrick had traveled to Indianapolis with members of the grassroots disability rights advocacy group ADAPT to protest Medicaid cuts under the Senate’s prospective Affordable Care Act replacement bill.