The maker of OxyContin has been cast as the chief villain in the nation’s opioid crisis. But newly released government figures suggest Purdue Pharma had plenty of help in flooding the U.S. with billions of pills even as overdose deaths were accelerating.
Read moreThe Ohio hospital system where excessive painkiller doses were given to dozens of patients who died fired 23 nurses, pharmacists and managers Thursday and said it is changing leadership, a sign that professional fallout from the opioid scandal has expanded far beyond the intensive care doctor accused of ordering the drugs.
Read moreA former Rice University football player stood before a magistrate in Houston federal court Friday to face charges he sold opioids to a teammate who died in his sleep after taking the pills.
Read moreBetween 1999 and 2017, nearly 400,000 people in the United States died from overdoses involving opioids and by 2017, over 2 million people had been diagnosed with an opioid use disorder. Legal aid may be the key to facilitating recovery for them.
Read moreLawyers for a pair of accused drug dealers urged the New Jersey Supreme Court to bar their prosecution for a New Yorker’s overdose, saying state law does not cover conduct across the river.
Read moreWhile drug epidemics in the United States tend to affect non-whites, the opioid crisis in America has targeted largely low-income white populations, according to a new study released Monday by the American Medical Association.
Read more(CN) – As the U.S. opioid epidemic peaked in 2015, so did the amount of money spent to market prescription
Read moreA wrongful death lawsuit was filed in Minnesota state court Friday against a doctor by the family of the late pop star Prince, who said he died two years ago of an overdose of the potent drug fentanyl because the doctor did not treat him for his opiate addiction.
Read moreA bill to allow San Francisco to pilot a 3-year program to create safe injection sites to prevent overdoses from controlled substances has passed both chambers of the Legislature, and awaits Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature.
Read morePolice swarmed a Connecticut park near Yale University and searched people’s homes for drugs Thursday in an effort to prevent more overdoses from a batch of synthetic marijuana blamed for sending more than 70 people to the hospital.
Read morePrescription 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 moreCalifornia’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 moreThe 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 moreA Minnesota prosecutor said Thursday that he will not bring criminal charges in the overdose death of Prince, but a doctor accused of illegally prescribing the pop star an opioid has agreed to a $30,000 civil settlement.
Read moreWest Virginia’s death toll from drug overdoses has improved slightly, with 872 deaths last year.
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Deaths from opioid overdoses tripled in the 15 years from 2000 to 2015, according to a study published Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control.
Read moreFor two months, health care providers and law enforcement in Arizona have been reporting drug overdose deaths to the state health department. Authorities now know more Arizonans die of drug overdoses than in car accidents, with opioids responsible for over half the overdose deaths.
Read moreRushed to the hospital for a heroin overdose, a Pennsylvania woman claims in a federal complaint that officials flouted a year-old overdose-immunity law by trying to prosecute her.
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