Opioids | LocalHealthGuide

Overdose Prevention Should Include Alcohol Too, Study Suggests

Alcohol ramps up the effects of drugs that act on the brain and nervous system, and vice versa, which increases the risk of overdose.

October 7, 2019 Addiction / Opioids

Opioid Treatment Scam May Be Coming to Your State

Patient “brokers” can make initial commissions of as much as $2,000 for each patient they recruit for for-profit opioid treatment programs.

September 26, 2019 Addiction / Opioids

Increase in local overdose deaths linked to fentanyl-laced drugs

Fentanyl has been found in illicit M30, V48 and A215 pills and various powder products.

September 9, 2019 Minorities / Opioids

In Cherokee Country, Opioid Crisis Seen as Existential Threat

Native Americans, make up less than 2% of the population, have higher rates of overdose deaths from prescription and illicit opioids than any other racial/ethnic group

Box and dispenser of opioid overdose drug Narcan (naloxone)

August 28, 2019 Addiction / Opioids

State makes it easier to access opioid overdose drug

Anyone who wants to get opioid overdose drug naloxone can now obtain the drug at any pharmacy in the state without a prescription.

August 27, 2019 Opioids

Judge Cites Opioid ‘Menace,’ Awards Oklahoma $572M In Landmark Case

It’s the first ruling to hold a pharmaceutical company responsible for one of the worst drug epidemics in American history.

August 13, 2019 Marijuana / Opioids

Where Doctors Can Recommend Marijuana to Replace Opioids

Colorado, Illinois and New York now allow health professionals to recommend marijuana instead of addictive, potentially deadly opioid pain pills.

July 31, 2019 Addiction / Opioids

Opioid study shows which counties are at high-risk

Study identified 412 counties are at least twice as likely to be at high risk for opioid overdose deaths and to lack providers who can deliver medications to treat opioid use disorder.

July 30, 2019 Opioids

Opioid epidemic may have cost states $130 billion

In addition to effects on health care use, opioid misuse can also lead to significant declines in employment, which in turn rob states of expected tax revenue.

July 24, 2019 Opioids

Overdose Prevention Efforts Reach Bars and Clubs

To stanch the death toll from fentanyl contamination in the illicit drug supply, health officials in New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Seattle reaching out to customers in bars and clubs.

July 9, 2019 Addiction / Opioids / Rural Hospitals

Six-step plan reduced opioid use in rural clinic patients

A six-step plan that took a system approach cut use of high-dose opioids by more than 14 percent.

June 24, 2019 Addiction / Methamphetamine / Opioids

Meth In The Morning, Heroin At Night

Life inside the seesaw struggle of dual addiction.

June 21, 2019 Addiction / Opioids

Surgeons’ Opioid-Prescribing Habits Are Hard To Kick

As opioid addiction and overdoses escalated into an epidemic, many surgeons continued to hand out far more pills than needed for postoperative pain relief

May 28, 2019 Opioids

Oklahoma’s ‘Precedent-Setting’ Suit Puts Opioid Drugmakers On Trial

All eyes will be on Oklahoma this week when the first case in a flood of litigation against opioid drug manufacturers begins Tuesday.

May 21, 2019 Opioids

Rapid Opioid Cutoff Is Risky Too, Feds Warn

Federal agencies are urging doctors to evaluate the risks to patients on opioid pain medicines before abruptly tapering them off the highly addictive drugs.