From People.com:
A father from Vermont wrote an impassioned obituary for his daughter who died after a years-long battle with opioid addiction and used the moment to call for more paths toward rehabilitation for those hoping to recover from substance abuse.
Edwin Webbley’s 31-year-old daughter, Megan Webbley, was at a New Hampshire rehabilitation clinic seeking help for opioid addiction when she passed away unexpectedly on September 29, he explained in an obituary published on October 7.
From Quest Diagnostics:
“First-of-its-kind study shows nearly three in four physicians trust their patients to take controlled substances as prescribed, yet half of all patient test results show misuse of these drugs
Non-prescribed gabapentin use accelerating, growing 40% in past year, making it the most commonly detected non-prescribed controlled medication in tested patients.”
From the Epoch Times:
NEW YORK—As efforts to combat the opioid epidemic ramp up at the federal level, countless nonprofits and organizations at state and local levels spend each day dedicated to fighting the battle, oftentimes on the front lines.
Read the complete article here
From Associated Press:
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The multibillion-dollar settlement that the maker of OxyContin is negotiating to resolve a crush of lawsuits over the nation’s opioid crisis contains formulas for dividing up the money among state and local governments across the country, The Associated Press has learned.
The formulas would take into account several factors, including opioid distribution in a given jurisdiction, the number of people who misuse opioids and the number of overdose deaths.
Read complete article here – https://www.apnews.com/8d7a681bdaee47fab8e83c5b9759d82d
From the New York Times:
“For some Americans, the nation’s opioid crisis starts before birth.”
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — His body dependent on opioids, he writhes, trembles and cries. He is exhausted but cannot sleep. He vomits, barely eats and has lost weight.
He is also a baby. Just 1 month old, he wails in the nursery of the CAMC Women and Children’s Hospital here. A volunteer “cuddler” holds him while walking around, murmuring sweetly, hour after hour, but he is inconsolable. What his body craves is heroin.
Read entire article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/07/opinion/sunday/babies-opioid-addiction-west-virginia.html
Prevent Opioid Abuse team lines up legislative sponsors in states across the nation at National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) in Nashville.
From the New York Times:
” Three decades of ever-escalating deaths from drug overdoses in the United States may have come to an end, according to preliminary government data made public Wednesday. Total drug overdose deaths in America declined by around 5 percent last year, the first drop since 1990. “
From the Washington Post:
” America’s largest drug companies saturated the country with 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pain pills from 2006 through 2012 as the nation’s deadliest drug epidemic spun out of control, according to previously undisclosed company data released as part of the largest civil action in U.S. history. “
Dozens of medical professionals in seven states were charged Wednesday with participating in the illegal prescribing of more than 32 million pain pills, including doctors who prosecutors said traded sex for prescriptions and a dentist who unnecessarily pulled teeth from patients to justify giving them opioids.
The 60 people indicted include 31 doctors, seven pharmacists, eight nurse practitioners and seven other licensed medical professionals. The charges stem from the government’s largest prescription-opioid takedown. It involves more than 350,000 illegal prescriptions written in Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and West Virginia, according to indictments unsealed in federal court in Cincinnati.