ââYou Want a Description of Hell?â OxyContinâs 12-Hour Problemâ
A new LA Times investigation finds that Purdue Pharmaâs claims that OxyContin, a chemical cousin of heroin, could relieve pain for twelve hours led some...
Why Isn’t Big Pharma Paying for the Harm it Caused?
From Alternet: The pharmaceutical industry has played a major role in causing the opioid crisis by downplaying the potentially addictive and fatal effects of narcotic pain...
Bill to Force Pharma to Disclose Payments to Advocacy Groups
From STAT: Last month, Senator Claire McCaskill released a report showing that opioid manufacturers had funneled nearly $9 million to patient advocacy groups between 2012...
âCalifornia Doctor Convicted of Murder in Overdose Deathsâ
âA Los Angeles-area doctor was convicted of murder in a landmark case for killing three patients who overdosed on what a prosecutor called 'crazy,...
The More Opioids Doctors Prescribe, the More Money They Make
An exclusive analysis by CNN and researchers at Harvard University found that opioid manufacturers are paying physicians huge sums of money â and that doctors with higher...
NEJM Special Report on Addressing the Opioid Crisis
From National Institutes of Health: NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins and NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow have co-authored a special report on a new public-private...
FBI Raids Lab That Pays Doctors to Promote Genetic Tests
From STAT: Federal investigators recently searched Proove Biosciences, a genetic testing company that purports to determine an individual's likelihood of becoming addicted to opioids. Proove's genetic...
âDrug Overdoses Propel Rise in Mortality Rates of Young Whitesâ
âThe rising death rates for those young white adults, ages 25 to 34, make them the first generation since the Vietnam War years of the mid-1960s to experience higher death rates in early adulthood than the generation that preceded it,â the âTimes reports.
FDA Proposes That Doctors Learn About Acupuncture
From STAT: The FDA is now recommending that physicians learn about a variety of approaches to pain management, including non-pharmacologic therapies such as chiropractic care...
âPharmaceutical Prosthesis and White Racial Rescue in the Prescription Opioid âEpidemicââ
Critical psychiatry researcher, anthropologist and NYU professor Helena Hansen writes: âOpioid maintenance acts as a kind of pharmaceutical prosthesis which promises to return white âaddictsâ to regaining their status as full human persons and middle-class consumers. Meanwhile, black and brown users are not deemed as persons to be rescued, but rather dangerous subjects to be pharmaceutically contained within the public discipline of the state.â
âAs Opioid Deaths Reach Record High, Drug Industry Resists Efforts to Rein in Prescriptionsâ
âIn 2014, the number of people who died from drug overdoses in the United States reached 47,055 â an all-time high, according to a disturbing report published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),â but âthe effort to get physicians to curb their prescribing of these drugs may be faltering amid stiff resistance from drugmakers, industry-funded groups and, now, even other public health officials.â
TV Documentary Funded by Doctor with Industry Ties
From STAT: A new documentary, "The Painful Truth," chronicles the plight of several patients struggling to find treatment for their chronic pain, suggesting that physicians...
âWest Virginia Allows Painkiller Addicts to Sue Prescribing Doctorsâ
âCBS News went to West Virginia, a state that is attempting a drastic solution: allowing addicts to sue the doctors who got them hooked.â
âPrince Died Amid Frantic Plans for Drug Addiction Treatmentâ
Prince was found dead one day before he was scheduled to meet with Dr. Howard Kornfeld, a national authority on opioid addiction treatment. Within...
Pharma CEO Says he can Stop Profiting off Opioid Epidemic
From The Onion: "Visibly trembling as he wiped beads of perspiration from his forehead, Arcelis Pharmaceuticals CEO Paul Corrier told reporters Wednesday that he could...
Tiger Woods Told Officers During Arrest He had Taken Xanax
From STAT: Last month, when Tiger Woods was arrested for driving under the influence, he told officers that he had taken prescription medications including opioid...
The Link Between Opioids and Unemployment
From The Atlantic: A recent study found that increases in unemployment rates are associated with increased opioid overdoses and emergency room visits.
Article âÂ
The First Count of Fentanyl Deaths in 2016
From The New York Times: According to the first governmental account of nationwide drug deaths to cover all of 2016, drug overdose deaths increased by...
My Grandmother is a Drug Addictâand I Blame Big Pharma
In this piece for Alternet, Joshua Wilkey discusses his grandmother's addiction to opioid painkillers and details the role that pharmaceutical companies have played in Appalachia's opioid...
When Legal Drugs Harm and Illegal Drugs Help
From Scientific American: In a day and age when people are increasingly becoming addicted to prescription drugs, and increasingly helped by the therapeutic effects of illicit...
âFDA Forced to Release Adverse Event Reports on Psychiatric Drugsâ
Following a lawsuit brought by Andrew Thibault of Parents Against Pharmaceutical Abuse (PAPA), the FDA has produced adverse event and severe adverse event reports...
The Real Opioid Emergency
From The New York Times: In recent years, politicians have shown increased awareness of the opioid epidemic and have made statements about the need for treatment,...
âInvoluntary Hospitalization of Drug Users Is Bad Policyâ
While plans to involuntary commit drug users have âreceived virtual across-the-board support,â Susan Sered from TruthOut reports that âthere is little to no evidence showing that coerced drug treatment is effective,â and that âhaving abstained from opiates for several days may set them up to overdose when they return to their former level of drug use, with a reduced tolerance for the drugs.â
Ohio Attorney General Sues Prescription Opioid Manufacturers
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has filed a lawsuit against five leading prescription opioid manufacturers and their related companies in Ross County Court of Common...
Half of Opioid Prescriptions Go to People With Mood Disorders
From STAT: A recent study found that 51 percent of all opioid prescriptions in the U.S. are written for people diagnosed with anxiety, depression and other...
