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A year and a half after the opioid painkiller OxyContin went on the market, a Purdue Pharma sales representative documented a physician’s concern about the burgeoning drug that would come up again and again. “Dr worried re addiction w/ Oxy,” the sales rep wrote in a memo summarizing a visit with a Kentucky physician on Aug. 12, 1997. The representative had a ready message to deflect such concerns: “Oxy is long-acting, has fewer peaks than other oxycodone combos, less addictive value.” (Joseph and Chakradhar, 1/9)

With the county commission now on board, Hillsborough is on track to become one of the first counties in Florida to take advantage of a new state law allowing local governments to offer free, clean syringes in exchange for used ones. The commission gave its first nod of approval Wednesday to a proposed pilot needle exchange program that would not only provide free hypodermic needles to the community, but also offer on-site medical treatment, mental health counseling and access to the overdose-reversing drug Narcan. (Dawson, 1/8)

There’s a rallying cry heard often in the battle against opioid addiction: People with opioid dependence need immediate access to treatment, particularly the medications that stop cravings and prevent overdoses. But a study published this week in the Journal of Psychiatric Practice found that one avenue to addiction treatment — a federal database of clinicians who prescribe buprenorphine, a key antiaddiction medication — is rife with inaccuracies and unlikely to connect patients with care. (Freyer, 1/8)

State officials on Wednesday alerted Boston-area health care providers about a growing risk of HIV infections, asking for enhanced vigilance after seven new cases were identified recently among homeless people who inject drugs. Those cases, most diagnosed in December, are among 25 HIV infections in an outbreak first recognized a year ago, stirring concerns about a deadly consequence of the opioid epidemic. The 25 individuals are people who inject drugs, have recently experienced homelessness, and have sought medical care in Boston. (Freyer, 1/8)

Finishing IV antibiotic treatment at home has become standard protocol for patients like Jackson with a serious bacterial infection. Except that Jackson, who is 69, was addicted to heroin for 40 years. Sending someone with a history of injection drug use home with an open line into a major vein is just not done in the U.S., except at a handful of hospitals. Brigham and Women’s is now one of them. (Bebinger, 1/9)