Tag: Opioid

Third Wheel at an Opioid Social for Two

Crouched on the metal couch of a bus stop seat, repeating a rocking motion, nursing himself to sleep, he sways, builds momentum, then peaks. Or does the high¹ peak? He starts rocking again, so it’s really immaterial. I’ve seen it before: head slumped over a bowl of cereal, ...

My doctor says they have to lower my long-term opioid medicine. “What can I do? What do I say?”

Please note: this page offers general guidance for people concerned about proposed opioid dose reductions or loss of access to a prescriber. It does not offer personal medical advice. Please speak with your own health care providers, and the people you personally trust for i...

Barack Obama & the Opioid Crisis

In the fall of 2001, southern Virginia’s US Attorney John Brownlee launched an investigation of Purdue Pharma, a company he believed misled government officials and medical practitioners regarding the potentially addictive nature of its opiate painkiller OxyContin. Short-staffed and without mu...

Opioid Epidemic Destroying Our Future

Photo credit: Author image created using photoexpress. The opioid epidemic has emerged as a malicious plague slowly eroding our society’s foundation, leaving a path of devastation in its wake of families, communities, and health system. Like a relentless storm, it has relentlessly swept thr...

Opioid Addiction and the Myth of Powerlessness

I began shooting heroin and Dilaudid in 1976 and I used for 35 years. During the first 13 years I used occasionally, never enough to develop a problem. The last 22 years I was strung out, living an addiction. And the world we live in, those of us with an opioid addiction, is very different from the ...

I Dated an Opioid Addict and Didn’t Know It

Ivividly remember every detail of that life-changing night three years ago—the night my boyfriend told me he was an opioid addict, a secret he’d been hiding from me for months. I felt blindsided; the moment was surreal. Shock and devastation overwhelmed me. Who was this person before ...

What’s in that Opioid Plan from CMS?

I will try to weave these elements together as best as I can. I’m sorry the explanation is long. My understanding emerged from reviewing roughly 4 separate documents from CMS, 5 to 7 email exchanges with CMS staff, plus “real world” reports from a commercial pharmacist, 50% of whos...

Rite Aid Opioid Bankruptcy Contested by DOJ

According to Law360, the DOJ argued before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for The District of New Jersey that it should receive 180 days to file claims against the estate of Rite Aid. The DOJ’s claim puts it at odds with other debtors as well as Rite Aid itself who claim that the six months the Dep...

‘Battling’ the Demon Opioid

We harbor an instinctive drive to hide information as a survival mechanism, which is why irrational fears still exist about drug use. These beliefs are morally and logically indefensible for several reasons. We don’t express the same hatred for our own compulsive use of substances li...

Clinical Issue: Opioid-Free Anesthesia

The conviction of Purdue Pharma for instigating the opioid epidemic in the United States (U.S.) symbolized a righteous public win against the avaricious big pharma and a major leap toward opioid stewardship. The pharmacodynamic contributor to opioid dependence is thought to be opioid-induced hyperal...

Kratom may not save you from opioid addiction, and may even lead you to it

Here’s why I tell people I care about to steer clear of Kratom: Kratom binds to the same receptors in the brain as opioids. So, although it does not contain opiates, it works the same way on the brain. I admit I never have tried Kratom. And I never would, based on what I have read and...

Opioid addicts abusing diarrhea medicine

People addicted to opioids have found a way to get high off anti-diarrhea medication, too. The problem is serious enough that U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb asked makers of loperamide, sold over the counter as Imodium AD, to change the way they package the ...

The Bible Belt, a tourniquet: The faces of opioid addiction in Alabama

In a 2019 report released by the Drug Enforcement Agency, it was found that more than 2 billion pharmaceutical opioids were prescribed in Alabama between 2006 and 2014. The Alabama county with the highest opioid prescription rate was Walker County, with more than 66 million pills being distribu...

Undertreatment of Pain…a result of the opioid epidemic, or rather a campaign of fear mongering?

Needless to say, you could see if you clicked on the link why this was such a painful situation. Even a potentially mortal one if other circumstances were involved. During her recovery she would contact me from the hospital often in tears, complaining of agonizing pain. Now this was after she was pl...

TN AG Settles Opioid Claims With Food City

The Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has announced a $44.5 million deal with the grocery chain Food City and its parent company, K-VA-T. In addition to paying out, the settlement would require K-VA-T and Food City to adjust employee conduct along with other non-monetary penalties. Neithe...

Here’s how employers can manage opioid-addicted employees--and no, it’s not by firing them

If you tend to think of drug abusers as people who can’t manage relationships or hold down jobs, you’re not alone. There’s a lot of stigma surrounding addiction and drug dependence. However, these kinds of beliefs are often based on assumptions that turn out to be false. For instan...

Turning the Tide: Major Pharma Lawsuits Unearth Opioid Profiteering

The year 2019 bore witness to a seismic shift in the battle against the opioid epidemic, as major pharmaceutical companies faced a barrage of lawsuits over their alleged profiteering from the crisis. This editorial aims to dissect the events that led to these landmark legal actions, the implications...

Featured Article: Naloxone, an Opioid Overdose Drug (September 21st, 2023)

Congressional Communities is featuring one Congressional Research Service (CRS) article per day in effort to share with our readers the wealth of information that the CRS makes readily available. Today’s featured CRS article, “Naloxone for Opioid Overdose: Considerations for Congress,...

McKinsey, consiglieri of the opioid crisis

McKinsey has been embroiled in an endless series of grotesque scandals, caught “advising” companies and governments on projects that produced literal crimes against humanity, at scale. Naturally, the company downplays its role in these scandals, insisting that it was mostly involved in &...

Kroger Opioid Settlement Could Begin Paying Out This Year

The retail company Kroger Inc. has created a settlement agreement worth over $1 billion to resolve claims that its grocery stores improperly distributed opioids and exacerbated the opioid crisis. According to Kroger’s statement, the settlement would pay out to “states, subdivisions, and ...

Rite Aid May File for Bankruptcy Over Opioid Lawsuits

Facing billions of dollars in legal liabilities over its alleged role in heavily overprescribing opioids and contributing to the opioid epidemic, the pharmacy chain Rite Aid may be preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to an August 25 Wall St. Journal report. One of th...

As America’s Opioid Epidemic Claims Lives, Past ‘Chuck Conlosh’ Ephedrine Legislation Holds the Keys to Reform

In the year 2020, there was a reported 29.3% increase in drug-overdose deaths in the United States — 93,331 deaths attributed to illicit drug abuse which many claim stem from legal prescription drugs such as fentanyl. While drug-related deaths continue to skyrocket throughout the ...

The Opioid Crisis Started Because Big Pharma Wanted to Make a Profit

The current opioid crisis that we are facing is another toxic symptom of capitalism gone badly wrong in America. A for-profit medical system puts profits ahead of patient needs, and led to a large number of people being over-prescribed opioid medications which are highly addictive. Pharmaceutical...

How our hackathon project inspired Google to fight the opioid crisis

For those who have never participated in a hackathon, it’s a unique experience. There’s something about the combination of sleep deprivation, junk food, tight deadlines, and a competitive (but collaborative) spirit that gives birth to innovative ideas. Yet, for all their popularity, a...

The Opioid Epidemic in The United States

If you have severe pain, you may be prescribed an opioid medication. This can happen such as if you have been in a car accident, or if you have chronic pain. Though opioids are good at relieving pain, there are many possible dangerous side-effects, as well as many people who become addicted to these...

First Person: Opioid Withdrawal

I am physically dependent on opioids after being prescribed three-day patches for post-operative pain. My surgery was no trifle: it was between three and four hours, and involved my cervical spine. I also require a great deal of physical therapy to get back on my feet, as well as good sleep, and non...

The Opioid Epidemic:

The opioid epidemic, often relegated to mere headlines and fleeting news segments, is a profound and pervasive crisis that has woven its tendrils deep into the heart of our communities. It’s not just a distant issue discussed in policy meetings or medical conferences; it’s a lived experi...

The Opioid Epidemic in Lynchburg City: “It’s here”

Up until early last year, Don Holman of Forest, Virginia said he did not really consider much about America’s problem with opiates. Sometimes, he admits, he heard something about heroin on the evening news, or maybe again he would hear the term “opioid epidemic” — never, t...

The Opioid Crisis

What is an opioid? Opioids are synthetic opiates, derived from the opium poppy plant (a natural pain reliever). One of the most common pain medications on the market is prescribed by physicians after patient sustained a physical injury, following surgery many patients have prescribed some sort of na...

Opioid Epidemic Annotated Bibliography

The NIH is government program called the National Institute on Drug Abuse, whose goal is to use advance science on the research of addiction and drug use, to improve the public’s health. The following page on the NIH website is about Opioid Overdose Crisis, revised annually to keep it up to da...

Detecting Opioid Abuse in Clinical Notes Using Spark NLP

Patient Safety: Identifying cases of opioid abuse in clinical notes is essential for ensuring the safety and well-being of patients. Opioid abuse can lead to serious health consequences, including addiction, overdose, and even death. By detecting and addressing opioid abuse, healthcare provider...

Opioid adverse effects & alternatives poster

Over the years I have created a number of handouts geared towards providers and patients. In the context of the on-going opioid epidemic, it is not surprising that the most popular of my handouts is on opioid adverse effects and opioid alternatives. Doctors, nurse practitioner...

Addressing Opioid Use Disorder in the LGBTQ Community

A report released by the National LGBT Health Education Center focuses on the reasons that members of this community are at higher risk and ways to address this major disparity. It notes that this higher prevalence of substance use disorders, including opioid use disorder, can be understoo...

TX AG Reaches $340 Million Opioid Settlement

Texas Attorney General (AG) Ken Paxton has announced a $340 million opioid settlement with the pharmaceutical chain Walgreens. In its press release, the office of the AG notes that this brings the total settlement amount to $2.91 billion. According to the settlement agreement, $115,910,675 of the...

San Francisco Closes $230 Million Opioid Settlement

The City Attorney’s Office for the city of San Francisco has reached a settlement of over $230 million with the lone remaining defendant of its litigation. The settlement with the pharmacy chain Walgreens marks the end of more than five years of litigation for San Francisco City Attorney David...

NJ Secures $1 Billion in Nationwide Opioid Settlements

Governor Phil Murphy and Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced that all 21 counties and 241 municipalities in New Jersey have joined the State in signing onto the nationwide settlement agreements with pharmacy chains CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart, and drug makers Teva Pharmaceuticals and Aller...

Mississippi: Dental Opioid Epicenter of 2014

The American Dental Association has called for its members to help fight against the opioid epidemic. While dentists are prescribing a small percentage of opioids, overall, in the U.S., they are a main prescriber for patients between the ages of 10 & 19. For each of 127,338 dentis...

The American Opioid Epidemic: A Crisis We Condone

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), about 2.1 million people in the United States were addicted to opioid pain relievers in 2012. Deaths due to opioid overdose have tripled since 1999, and many of the most devastating consequences that stem from opioid abuse end up sp...

The Opioid Epidemic: Pain, Suffering, and the Path to Redemption

To address the opioid epidemic, we must work to dismantle the shame and stigma around addiction and create a culture of compassion and understanding. By embracing good psychology, forgiveness, and a daily reminder that we are ourselves divine and worthy, we can move towards a brighter future, one...

DOJ Sues Rite Aid Over Opioid Prescriptions

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed an intervention in a whistleblower lawsuit against the Rite Aid Corporation and its subsidiaries. The Justice Department’s March 13 press release states that it is suing one of the largest pharmacy chains with over 2,200 pharmacies across 17 state...

Opioid Executive Sentenced for Criminal Conspiracy

An executive who served as the head of the Rochester Drug Cooperative has been sentenced to more than two years in prison for funneling large amounts of narcotic medication into pill mills. Laurence F. Doud III was sentenced on March 8 on charges of criminal conspiracy to deceive the U.S. Drug Enfor...

Know This — Recovery From Opioid Addiction Is Not A Quick Thing

When I was tapering off opioids, it was insanely hard. But I pushed through, thinking, when I finally get off these pills for good, everything will be alright again. Everything will be better. Life will go back to normal. And things did slowly start to improve, which was a relief, given that t...

FDA Panel Recommends Making Opioid Overdose Antidote Available Over the Counter — WinWay Health Blog

An FDA advisory panel has recommended that naloxone, a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses, be made available over the counter. The move is seen as a significant step forward in the fight against the opioid epidemic that has swept across the United States in recent years. The panel’...

WV Opioid Suit Down to Final Defendant

Walgreens has become the latest defendant to settle with West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey over claims related to multiple pharmacies’ roles in exacerbating the opioid crisis. During a Jan. 18 press conference, AG Morrisey announced that he had signed an $83 million settlement ag...

Opioid vaccine blocks the high

It’s 100X more potent than morphine and tiny doses (about the size of four grains of salt) are enough to kill an adult. Fentanyl is an extremely powerful synthetic painkiller driving the opioid crisis in many parts of the world. Opioid Use Disorder (or addiction of this highly addictive cla...

CVS & Walgreens Issue Preliminary Opioid Settlement of $10 Billion

The two largest drugstores in the country, CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens, have issued preliminary deals worth a combined total of over $10 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits filed over their alleged failure to curb sales of prescription narcotics, according to Law360. According to plaintiffs, p...

Opioid Use and Sexual Dysfunction

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a warning regarding severe safety issues associated with opioid pain medications. Besides a few other issues that can occur, they reported that long term opioid use may be associated with decreased sex hormone levels (i.e., testosterone) and ...

New Jersey Wins $9.5 Million in Landmark Opioid Settlement with Publicis Health

The settlement emerged from allegations against Publicis for engaging in practices deemed unconscionable by the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. Publicis’s acknowledgment of the harm caused by its actions paves the way for enhanced support for communities grappling with the opioid cris...

McKinsey Agrees to $78 Million Settlement Over Opioid Crisis Claims | Jot Beat

McKinsey and Co., a prominent consulting firm, has reached a $78 million settlement to resolve allegations that its work with pharmaceutical companies, notably Purdue Pharma, contributed to the national opioid addiction crisis. This settlement, pending judicial approval, was disclosed in federal ...