Category: Opioids
How Fentanyl Changes the Opioid Equation
With lethal amounts of fentanyl showing up in heroin and other drugs throughout the country, active drug users are at a greater risk of dying than ever before
VA Adding Opioid Antidote To Defibrillator Cabinets For Quicker Overdose Response
The VA is adding naloxone kits to AED cabinets in its buildings across the country, an initiative that could become a model for other health care organizations.
Workers Overdose On The Job, And Employers Struggle To Respond
Many employers — ill-equipped or unwilling to confront an issue they are at a loss to handle — turn a blind eye to addiction within their workforce.
Most Hospital ERs Won’t Treat Your Addiction. These Will.
Despite an overdose epidemic that is killing nearly 200 Americans a day, the vast majority of hospitals do not offer addiction treatment to ER patients.
Fewer Trying Heroin, But Pot Use Up
The survey found a small increase in the number of people with substance use disorders who receive specialty treatment, but 92% do not.
Suicide By Opioid: New Research Suggests Overdoses Should Be Classified As Self-Harm
Suicide rates have been steadily climbing, but their numbers are likely even higher.
Opioid Overdose Deaths Rose in 2017 Driven by Fentanyl
Nearly 72,000 Americans died from a drug overdose in 2017, about 7 percent more than in the previous year, CDC report.
For Addicted Women, the Year After Childbirth Is the Deadliest
The opioid epidemic has addicted nearly 3 million Americans and killing more than 350,000. But pregnant women and new moms are particularly vulnerable.
Rival Opioid Makers Sought To Cash In On Alarm Over OxyContin
As Purdue Pharma faced mounting criticism over deaths linked to OxyContin, rival drugmakers saw a chance to boost sales of similarly dangerous painkillers
Poll: Providers Aren’t Doing Enough to Warn Older Patients About Opioids
Many Americans over 50 favor limits on painkiller prescribing, and those who receive prescriptions need more counseling about risks and safe disposal options.
Opioid Maker Changes Public Service Ad In Washington Post
Purdue Pharma had said that taking opioids such as its painkiller OxyContin can prove dangerous even as prescribed — then appeared to backtrack a few days later.