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+17 +1
Insurance rules hamper treatment for opioid use disorder
An effort to control costs in the insurance industry could be helping to fuel the nation's opioid epidemic, a new study says.From 2007 to 2018, Medicare part D patient access to buprenorphine fell from 89 percent in 2007 to 35 percent in 2018, despite its effectiveness in treating opioid use disorder, according to a research letter published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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+11 +1
Opioid death rate plunges 41 percent in Florida county at center of epidemic
Almost three years after Palm Beach County officials set out to combat the opioid epidemic, it looks like their efforts are paying off: The State Attorney’s Office reports there were 326 opioid deaths in 2018, down from 558 in 2017. That’s a 41 percent decline. When the crisis started in 2012, 143 deaths were attributed to these addictive prescription drugs. Then there were 189 deaths in 2014, and 307 in 2015. They hit a peak of 569 in 2016.
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+14 +1
Sackler family members face mass litigation and criminal investigations over opioids crisis
Suffolk county in Long Island, New York, has recently sued family member, and Connecticut and New York are considering criminal fraud and racketeering charges against leading family members
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+31 +1
The making of an opioid epidemic
The long read: When high doses of painkillers led to widespread addiction, it was called one of the biggest mistakes in modern medicine. But this was no accident
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+14 +1
A Rural Community Decided To Treat Its Opioid Problem Like A Natural Disaster
A rural county in Washington declared the opioid epidemic a life-threatening emergency. They use a multi-agency coordination group straight out of FEMA's playbook to respond to the crisis.
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+26 +1
Is a recent fall in overdose deaths temporary or a sign of a corner turned?
Public health experts say they see reason to be optimistic but warned against drawing firm conclusions based on a half-year’s worth of data.
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+19 +1
Newly developed fentanyl strips help alert drug users of a hidden danger
The strip detects fentanyl, the cheap synthetic opioid, mixed with street drugs – that’s been blamed for the surge of overdose deaths. It’s controversial because helping drug users test their supplies could be seen as advocating abuse.
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+21 +1
Opioid overdoses, depression linked
The link between mental health disorders and substance abuse is well-documented. Nearly one in 12 adults in the U.S is depressed, and opioid-related deaths are skyrocketing. As these numbers continue to climb, some mental health professionals have started to wonder if there’s a link between the two.
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+3 +1
OxyContin goes global — “We’re only just getting started”
oxyContin is a dying business in America. With the nation in the grip of an opioid epidemic that has claimed more than 200,000 lives, the U.S. medical establishment is turning away from painkillers. Top health officials are discouraging primary care doctors from prescribing them for chronic pain, saying there is no proof they work long-term and substantial evidence they put patients at risk.
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+29 +1
OxyContin Billionaire to Sell Drug to Get You Off OxyContin
Pharmaceutical billionaire Richard Sackler, whose family-owned company Purdue Pharma created the notorious drug OxyContin, has been granted a patent for a new drug designed to help wean people off that highly addictive opiate. Purdue has been named as one of the key drivers in an opioid epidemic that is killing tens of thousands of Americans every year. The Financial Times reports that Sackler now stands to make millions more dollars from a milder opiate that would be sold to people addicted to more powerful drugs like heroin or OxyContin.
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+20 +1
Experimental painkiller molecule as powerful as morphine, but not addictive
As an opioid epidemic spreads across the western world, researchers believe they’re close to developing a non-addictive painkiller. Figures from the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) estimate that about 115 people in the country are overdosing on opioids every single day. Aside from the financial costs such an addiction brings to a national healthcare system, it can be hugely traumatic for the person addicted to these drugs, and for their families.
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+2 +1
We’re failing in the opioid crisis. A new study shows a more serious approach would save lives.
The study suggests a comprehensive approach is needed — one that goes way further than what America has done so far.
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+13 +1
Rate of Babies Born to Opioid Addicted Mothers Quadruples
The number of women giving birth while addicted to opioids more than quadrupled between 1999 and 2014, according to new data published Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The data illustrates, among other things, “the devastating impact of the opioid epidemic on families across the U.S., including on the very youngest,” said CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield. “Each case represents a mother, a child, and a family in need of continued treatment and support.”
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+11 +1
Deadly fentanyl forces sites to call professionals
The tragic business of cleaning up deadly fentanyl overdose sites is booming — with calls flooding in for hazmat responses to hotels, schools, ball fields, public restrooms and even rental cars, where addicts have been shooting up drugs.“It’s increased tremendously in the last 18 months and even more specifically in the last 12 months,” said Michael Wiseman of Easton-based 24 Trauma, a commercial crime-scene cleanup service that now gets up to 10 OD cleanup calls a week.
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+32 +1
Sewage Is Helping Cities Flush Out the Opioid Crisis
Poop studies are helping communities make intervention decisions
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+2 +1
Trying Physical Therapy First For Low Back Pain May Curb Use Of Opioids
Though Americans spend an estimated $80 billion to $100 billion each year in hopes of easing their aching backs, the evidence is mounting that many pricey standard treatments — including surgery and spinal injections — are often ineffective and can even worsen and prolong the problem.
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+15 +1
Lawyer who sued Big Tobacco and won turns his sights to opioid makers
Mississippi's Mike Moore says prescription drug companies are responsible for the nation's opioid addiction crisis.
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+16 +1
Getting off opioids: Patients turn to pot over pills
In 2016, opioids killed more Americans than breast cancer. The drug overdose epidemic has become one of the most concerning public health issues of recent time, and in an effort to stem the tide, moreg and more patients and doctors are turning to pot over pills. For much of the past two decades, 51-year-old Angie Slinker took a cocktail of narcotics, antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications to manage the pain stemming from a car accident in 1998.
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+17 +1
Amid the opioid epidemic, white means victim, black means addict
America’s social hierarchies rule everything – even the opioid epidemic. You don’t have to dig deep to find the hypocrisy and insult to people of color.
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+26 +1
How Can Science Combat the Opioid Crisis?
What opioid addiction treatments are more effective and can we vaccinate against addiction?
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