opioid crisis

24 States Fight To Block Sackler Family Bid For Immunity

LISTEN – MONEY BUYS FREEDOM – May 3, 2021 - But a growing group of public officials and activists is mounting a last-ditch effort to derail the plan, describing it in legal briefs as an unethical, and possibly ... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBig PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictioninterventionMay 11 2021opioid crisisopioidsoxycontinPurdue Pharma

CA Passes Bill For Supervised Sites For Drug Users

CALIFORNIA NODDING – April 22, 2021 - Supervised injection sites have emerged around the world in recent years, part of a movement to rethink treatment for people addicted to powerful opioids — including heroin... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaCompassionDrug Abuse and AddictioninterventionMay 11 2021opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontinRecovery

If your teenager was addicted to opioids, would you know?

TURNING HEARTACHE INTO HEALING – May 5, 2021 - I am an anesthesiologist who administers fentanyl every day to patients. I have also heartbreakingly lost both of my adult sons to accidental opioid overdoses. I c... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionfentanylinterventionMay 11 2021Mental Healthopioid crisisopioidsoxycontin

How Addicts Survived COVID

WATCH – CHEERLEADERS FOR SOBRIETY – May 6, 2021 - Max Hyde- 2 days agoAs an opioid addict of 10 years, I survived Covid by finally getting clean. Got some Kratom from a local head shop, used that lightly instea... Read More...

12 Step ProgramAddiction RecoveryAlcohol AddictionAlcoholics AnonymousCoronavirusDrug Abuse and AddictioninterventionMay 11 2021Mental Healthopioid crisisopioidsRecoveryRecovery AdvocateRehab

The Sacklers Launched OxyContin. Everyone Knows It!

GREED KILLS, GREED KILLED – May 6, 2021 - Before Richard Sackler—father of David Sackler, who’s married to Joss—became president of Purdue Pharma, he played a central role in the company’s launch of OxyContin i... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBig PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionMay 11 2021opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontinPurdue Pharma

They used drugs as children then turned their lives around. Here’s how!

SOBRIETY IS A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND – May 2, 2021- But when she was 26 years old, a phone call with her father made her realize the “living hell” she had put her family through. That’s when she decided to re... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictioninterventionInterviewMay 11 2021Mental Healthmethopioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontinRecoveryRecovery AdvocateRehab

Documentary: The Crime of the Century on HBO

WATCH – MODERN DAY SOPRANOS – Watch on May 10 - Exploring the origins, extent, and fallout of one of the most devastating public health tragedies of our time, with half a million deaths from overdoses this century a... Read More...

Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionMay 11 2021opioid crisisopioidsoxycontinPurdue Pharma

The Price of Saving a Life

CANADA DOES IT FOR FREE – April 29, 2021 - Naloxone is not a new drug. It was first patented in 1961 as a medication to reverse the common side effect of constipation in patients prescribed opioids, but was approved... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictioninterventionMay 4 2021opioid crisisopioidsRecovery

Four Good Days’ is a familiar addiction drama, elevated by powerful performances

MEDIA: FILM REVIEW – April 28, 2021 - What sets “Four Good Days” apart from the many other films of its ilk are Close and Kunis, who sharpen and elevate its well-worn contours with vivid performances that are h... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaCelebrity SobrietyDrug Abuse and AddictionMay 4 2021Mental Healthopioid crisisopioidsRecoveryRehab

2020: Worst year for drug overdoses in recorded history

WATCH – AMERICAN DEATH MARCH – April 26, 2021 - “I really don’t see our workload going down significantly for 2021,” added Dr. Jim Caruso, the chief medical examiner in Denver. “The first couple of months of 20... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionfentanylMay 4 2021opioid crisisopioidsOverdose

New Guidelines For Opioid Treatment Are A ‘Big Deal’

LISTEN – LET THE HEALING BEGIN – April 27, 2021 - “Some physicians actually don’t want to prescribe it because they don’t want to go to the extra burden of doing the training,” says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictioninterventionMay 4 2021opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseRecovery

Landmark opioid crisis trial starts next week at ground zero

INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY AS SIN – May 1, 2021 - Why is the trial in West Virginia? A year and a half later, Cabell County, which filed its lawsuit in 2017, will argue that the drug distributors failed to re... Read More...

Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictioninterventionMay 4 2021opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontinPurdue Pharma

FDA official who approved OxyContin got $400,000 gig at Purdue Pharma a year later

GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL FOR SALE — May 2, 2021 - Purdue Pharma's sale of OxyContin, a formulation of the narcotic oxycodone that was said to slow down the release of the strong painkiller when taken as prescribed, h... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBig PharmaDrug Abuse and AddictioninterventionMay 4 2021opioid crisisopioidsoxycontinPurdue Pharma

The United States Of Meth

SPEEDING TOWARDS OUR DEMISE – April 27, 2021 - As the pills piled up, Jon DeLena was shaken. He’d lived through a spike in cocaine trafficking in Miami in the early 2000s and the dramatic rise in heroin and fen... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionfentanylMay 4 2021methopioid crisisopioidsOverdose

Addicted America

WATCH – VIDEO WORTH WATCHING – April 27, 2021 - “It’s called the CAGE test - C is for cut-down meaning if you think that you need to start cutting down on your intake,” Dr. Garcia said. “The A is for annoyance-... Read More...

12 Step ProgramAddiction RecoveryAlcohol AddictionAlcoholics AnonymousBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictioninterventionMay 4 2021Mental Healthopioid crisisopioidsRecoveryRehabrelapse

US lifts barriers to prescribing Suboxone

GIVE PILLS A CHANCE – April 27, 2020 - Because of how opioids act on the brain, people dependent on them get sick if they stop using. Withdrawal can feel like a bad flu with cramping, sweating, anxiety and slee... Read More...

Addiction RecoverybuprenorphineDrug Abuse and AddictionMay 4 2021opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseRecovery

Is fear of opioids leaving patients in pain?

DOCTOR’S DILEMMA – April 23, 2021 - We heard from someone who has reached the end of his rope: “In June, I will have suffered from severe chronic pain for 28 years. I will be dead before then. My doctor has cut me b... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryApril 27 2021Books, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionfentanylinterventionMental Healthmethopioid crisisopioidsOverdosesuicide

OxyContin Owners Only Worth $11 Billion

LIVING BODY SNATCHERS – April 20, 2021 - Members of the Sackler family who own bankrupt OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma LP are worth approximately $11 billion, documents released Tuesday by a congressional commit... Read More...

April 27 2021Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and Addictioninterventionopioid crisisopioidsoxycontinPurdue PharmaTrauma

Drug companies to finally face first opioid trial

MAKING MONEY BURYING OUR CHILDREN – April 16, 2021 - J&J in a statement called its marketing of the drugs “appropriate and responsible,” Israel-based Teva said it will defend itself against these “unproven ... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryApril 20 2021Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictioninterventionMental Healthopioid crisisopioidsTrauma

Chauvin Defense ‘Weaponized’ Stigma For Black Americans

JUSTICE DEFERRED IS JUSTICE DENIED – April 16, 2021 - When George Floyd’s girlfriend Courteney Ross took the stand for the prosecution, she described the couple’s struggle with drugs as part of the nation’s dea... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryApril 20 2021Books, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionMental Healthopioid crisisopioidsRecovery

OXY Maker Agrees to Pay BILLION$

WATCH – ADDICTION FOR PROFITS – March 25, 2021 - Purdue had allegedly paid doctors to write more opioid prescriptions, according to the three federal criminal charges the company pleaded guilty to in November. ... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryApril 20 2021Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and Addictioninterventionopioid crisisopioidsoxycontinPurdue Pharma

In My Hometown, Opioids Are Still Stealing Lives

THREE WEEKS LATER IT HAPPENED AGAIN – April 14, 2021 - “Nobody wants their child’s life defined in one moment of a bad decision,” Ms. Whyte said. “My daughter was more than one night, more than an overdose. She... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryApril 20 2021Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and Addictioninterventionopioid crisisopioidsoxycontinPurdue PharmaRecovery

‘The Crime of the Century’ Examines Deadly Opioid Crisis

WATCH – HBO DOES IT AGAIN – April 7, 2021 - HBO Max has released a teaser for filmmaker Alex Gibney’s upcoming documentary about the opioid crisis, The Crime of the Century, which will air in two parts on May 10th a... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryApril 13 2021Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and Addictioninterventionopioid crisisopioidsoxycontinPurdue Pharma

America Has Been Through An Opioid Crisis Before

NO ONE LIKES PAIN – April 9, 2021 - Doctors have been prescribing opiate painkillers since the Bronze Age, and by the time the Civil War broke out in 1861, opiates were the most commonly prescribed medicines in Amer... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryApril 13 2021Books, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and Addictioninterventionopioid crisisopioidsoxycontinRecovery

Biden Pledges Assertive Action to Address Opioid Crisis

BY DOING WHAT? – April 5, 2021 - The crisis is national, but the struggle is personal—deeply personal,” he said. Biden became the third sitting U.S. president to address the Rx Summit, joining President Donald Tr... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryApril 13 2021Books, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and Addictioninterventionopioid crisisopioidsRecovery

Sackler Family’s Self-Pitying Emails

BOOK REVIEW – April 8, 2021 - In a 2017 email, Mortimer Sackler, son and namesake of one of the three brothers who co-founded Purdue Pharma, requested a $10 million loan—and “a possible additional $10 million..... Read More...

April 13 2021Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and Addictioninterventionopioid crisisopioidsoxycontinPurdue Pharma

Drug use among seniors a hidden epidemic

I'VE FALLEN AND I CAN'T GET UP – March 31, 2021 - Development of drug use later in life may be connected with prescription of pain relief medication, which poses a risk for misuse if not appropriately administered. ... Read More...

April 6 2021Books, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and Addictioninterventionlife expectancyMental Healthopioid crisisRehab

ADDICTION TREATMENT: DISASTER LOOMING

SYSTEMATIC BREAKDOWN – March 24, 2021 - In a spectacular display of stigma related to the disease of addiction and its treatment, there has not been a rush to expand capacity, address decades of old workforce s... Read More...

April 6 2021Books, Memoirs, Films, and MediaCoronavirusDrug Abuse and AddictioninterventionMental Healthopioid crisisopioidsOverdoseTrauma

Safer injection facilities are a much-needed weapon in the opioid epidemic

DEATH REDUCTION – April 3, 2021 - Doctors or nurses based at SIFs provide treatment or give referrals to treatment for people with opioid addiction. In my work as a buprenorphine doctor, many of my patients say... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryApril 6 2021Books, Memoirs, Films, and MediabuprenorphineDrug Abuse and Addictioninterventionopioid crisisopioidsRecovery

Do College Students even do drugs?

DO BEARS COME IN THE MAIL? – March 4, 2021 - The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued a statewide standing order for free naloxone to help curb out the mortality rate from opioid overdoses. Cali... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictioninterventionMar 23 2021Mental Healthopioid crisisopioidsOverdoseRecovery

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