Category: Opioids
War on opioids moves to veterinarians’ offices
Some states are taking the war on opioids into veterinarians’ offices, aiming to prevent people who are addicted to opioids from using their pets to procure drugs for their own use.
Opioid crisis strains foster care system; programs aim to keep kids with mom
The opioid epidemic is touching a much younger set of victims: children whose parents have substance abuse problems, who are increasingly being shuttled through the foster care system, unable to stay at home even as their parents struggle to get clean.
New numbers reveal huge disparities in opioid prescribing
Martinsville drugstores sell enough Vicodin, Percocet, OxyContin and other opioid painkillers to medicate every man, woman and child in the city for 136 days, nearly seven times the national average.
37 opioid overdoses reported within 7 days in Snohomish County
Overdoses were predominantly related to heroin. The youngest reported was 16 and the oldest was 52, with half of the overdoses being 21-30 years old.
‘Extreme’ Use of Painkillers and Doctor Shopping Plague Medicare, New Report Says
Some Medicare beneficiaries are being prescribed opioids by 10 or more doctors, or are filling prescriptions for more than 1,000 pills a month. Hundreds of doctors appear to be prescribing indiscriminately, says the inspector general of Health and Human Services.
Amount of opioids prescribed In U.S. has been falling since 2010
The amount of opioids prescribed in the United States peaked in 2010 and has been declining gradually since then. Still, the amount in 2015 is three times higher than at the turn of the century, they said.
Do-it-yourself detox can be ‘Freddy Krueger’ scary — and usually fails
There are recovery and treatment centers that can help people quit using drugs. But this help can be expensive, and waiting lists for state and city-funded programs are often extremely long. So can detoxing on your own be the solution? In most cases, the answer is no.
Opioid overdoses swamp medical examiners
Many medical examiners are working overtime and, in some places, they’re running out of refrigerated storage for bodies. When that happens, local officials typically borrow additional space at local funeral homes and hospitals, and in some cases, rent refrigerated trucks, he said. “Virtually every medical examiner’s office and toxicology laboratory in the U.S. has felt the impact of the opioid tsunami.”
Patients with mental disorders get half of all opioid prescriptions
Adults with a mental illness receive more than 50 percent of the 115 million opioid prescriptions in the United States annually, according to a new study. The results prompted researchers to suggest that improving pain management for people with mental health problems “is critical to reduce national dependency on opioids.”
Support grows for civil commitment of opioid users
Amid an opioid addiction epidemic that is killing more than 90 Americans every day, there is a growing movement to make it easier for relatives and health care providers to quickly secure court orders to forcibly confine and treat people who are addicted to drugs.
