Illinois Approves Medical Pot as Opioid Alternative
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner signed a bill Tuesday that will allow doctors to prescribe medical marijuana as a replacement for opioid painkillers.
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New Massachusetts Law Bans Co-Pay Coupons for OxyContin
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed a comprehensive anti-opioid bill on Tuesday that increases substance-abuse services for those incarcerated in the commonwealth, while also barring the use of co-pay coupons that some drugmakers offer for opioids.
Read moreConstruction Sector Leads in Massachusetts Opioid Deaths
Opioid overdoses cause 1 in 3 construction-worker deaths in Massachusetts, a new report from the state has found.
Read moreOpioid Shareholders
A hyper-aggressive campaign by Insys Therapeutics directors to get doctors to push Subsys, a fentanyl sublingual spray, for off-label uses, caused the share price to plummet by 75 percent, shareholders say in a federal class action.
Read moreUS Still Consumes Huge Amount of Opioids, Despite Efforts
Prescription opioid use has not declined over the last decade despite increased efforts to educate patients and doctors in order to prevent abuse, according to a study published Wednesday.
Read moreJudge: Opioid Distribution Data Not for Public Consumption
A federal judge has ruled that state and local governments cannot publicize federal government data about where prescription opioids were distributed — a blow to news organizations seeking to report more deeply on the nation’s overdose and addiction crisis.
Read moreBig Pharma Assails $600M Demand by NY on Opioid Crisis
Casting itself as a scapegoat of the opioid epidemic, an drug-distribution trade group brought a federal complaint in protest of New York’s attempt to make Big Pharma pay $600 million toward the cost of treating drug abusers.
Read moreHundreds Charged in Massive Opioid Crackdown
In what Attorney General Jeff Session called the biggest health care fraud enforcement action in U.S. history, the Justice Department said Thursday that it charged 601 people in dozens of cases involving opioid prescriptions.
Read moreOpioid-Tainted Handouts Alarm Sheriff in Houston
Texas sheriff warned the public Tuesday about the dangers of fentanyl after a deputy removed a flyer from her car’s windshield, began to feel lightheaded and was hospitalized, and the opioid was found on another flyer in the area.
Read moreOpioid Abuse
According to a 300-page federal class action against Purdue Pharma et al., within the next hour six Americans will die from opioid overdoses; two babies will be born dependent on opioids; and drug manufacturers will earn $2.7 million from selling the drugs.
Read moreHealth Insurers Could Be Driving Opioid Problem
Health care insurers may have helped fuel the country’s growing opioid epidemic that claimed the lives of 42,000 Americans in 2016, a new study shows.
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An Orange County Superior Court judge allowed Los Angeles County to join other California jurisdictions in a lawsuit that accuses opioid manufacturers of downplaying the addictive nature of the drugs to increase the number and length of opioid prescriptions, to boost sales.
Read moreCalifornia Widens Access to Opioid Overdose Antidote
California’s top public health official has issued a standing order to make the life-saving, anti-overdose drug naloxone available at pharmacies statewide without a prescription.
Read moreHockey Player
The Seventh Circuit ruled in favor of the National Hockey League in a wrongful death case brought by the parents of former hockey enforcer Derek Boogaard, who died of an opioid overdose, finding they forfeited their case by not responding to the league’s argument that they failed to state a claim under Minnesota or Illinois law.
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The Nez Perce Tribe’s federal complaint against Purdue Pharma, AmerisourceBergen and others for the opioid epidemic puts it in league with more than 520 cities, counties and states. Eight towns in Massachusetts also joined the list Friday.
Read moreSan Francisco Launches First-in-Nation Program to Combat Heroin Use
San Francisco on Thursday became the first city in the nation to adopt a promising new treatment for heroin addiction that city officials say could save lives and cut down on drug use on the streets.
Read moreDrug Overdose Deaths Up 12 Percent Nationally
The number of people who died in the United States as result of overdosing on drugs – including illicit and prescription drugs – rose by 12 percent, though researchers say the number is likely higher, according to a new report released Wednesday.
Read moreDrug Supply Firm Execs Say They Didn’t Cause Opioid Crisis
By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Top executives of the nation’s leading wholesale drug distributors told Congress under oath
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