Calif. lawmakers OK painkiller legislation
The California Senate has given the green light to two bills aimed at combatting prescription drug abuse and overdose deaths by helping authorities track painkiller prescriptions and enabling enhanced...
View ArticleVA over-prescribing narcotics to vets: report
Easy access to powerful prescription opiates has led to a rise in overdose deaths among war veterans, a new report has found. According to the Center for Investigative Reporting, the Department of...
View ArticleFDA OKs controversial form of Vicodin
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel has approved Zogenix Inc.’s Zohydro painkiller, a new version of pure, extended-release hydrocodone that is said to be 10 times more powerful than Vicodin....
View ArticleMissouri lags behind nation on pill monitoring database
Forty-nine states have taken measures to implement prescription drug monitoring databases in light of the pill addiction epidemic, but Missouri lacks such a program — despite the fact that it has the...
View ArticleVt. heroin ODs doubled in past year
What started as an OxyContin and prescription drug addiction problem in Vermont has now grown into a full-blown heroin crisis, with heroin overdose deaths doubling last year from the year before,...
View ArticleWisc. legislators tackle heroin abuse
In Wisconsin, where heroin killed nearly 200 people in 2012, legislators are considering legislation that would provide immunity to anyone who helps a person who has overdosed on drugs, and would also...
View ArticleENOUGH! Rally to be held March 24 in Calif.
If you live on the West Coast, take note that the second annual ENOUGH! Rally is set to be held on March 24, 2014 on the south steps of the California State Capitol building in Sacramento from 10 a.m....
View ArticleMass. Gov. bans Zohydro amid opioid epidemic
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has declared a public health emergency in response to the state’s growing opioid addiction epidemic, issuing an order banning the controversial new form of...
View ArticleN.J. docs must boost painkiller vigilance: Christie
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is urging physicians to be more careful about their prescribing habits when it comes to potentially addictive painkillers, and is encouraging their participation in the...
View ArticleZohydro backlash intensifies despite FDA’s defense
Opposition to Zohydro, the powerful new opiate some critics are calling “heroin in a pill,” continues to build, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is strongly defending the agency’s approval of...
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