opioids

As Opioid Deaths Soar, Biden Fills Up The Methadone Pitchers

RELIEF IS IN SIGHT – Feb. 2, 2024 - Now for the first time in more than 20 years, the Biden administration is publishing new federal rules for methadone treatment aimed at widening access for more patients. But patie... Read More...

Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionFeb 6 2024interventionopioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontin

French PR Agency to Pay $350 Million for its Role in Our Opioid Crisis

THE WHOLE WORLD WAS WATCHING – Feb. 2, 2024 - A subsidiary of the French advertising giant Publicis will pay 350 million dollars (or around 320 million euros) to the United States for its role in the opioid crisis in... Read More...

Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionFeb 6 2024opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontinPurdue Pharma

Doctor Who Prescribed 500k Opioid Doses Gets Conviction Nullified

NOW WHAT? – Feb. 2, 2024 - A Virginia doctor who prescribed more than 500,000 opioid doses in less than two years had his conviction and 40-year prison sentence thrown out by a federal appeals court on Friday.... Read More...

Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionFeb 6 2024interventionopioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontin

Author Breaks Silence Surrounding Addiction

THIS MAN KNOWS – Jan. 20, 2024 - Sam Quinones has been on the front line of reporting on illicit drugs, from his decade as a reporter and writer in Mexico to his decade at the Los Angeles Times covering immigr... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBig PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaCelebrity SobrietyDrug Abuse and AddictionJan 30 2024opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontin

New Synthetic Opioids Could Make Fentanyl Crisis Look Like ‘the good old days’

THE GOOD OLD DAYS WEREN’T – Jan. 23, 2024 - Chemists refer to this category of drugs as “nitazenes,” even though the term is incorrect; it should be “benzimidazole-based opioids.” The Swiss drug maker CIBA, now... Read More...

Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionfentanylJan 30 2024opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontin

Finding Recovery and Staying Safe from New England Journal of Medicine

VIDEO – HELPFUL INFORMATION – Jan. 25, 2024 - In this Double Take video from the New England Journal of Medicine and NEJM Knowledge+, Jennifer Foreman (Randolph Health Medical Group) and her son, Dylan Glover, reco... Read More...

12 Step ProgramAddiction RecoveryBig PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionJan 30 2024opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontinRecoveryRehab

Zombie Drug Rumored To Contain Human Bones

VIDEO – IMAGINE THAT – Jan. 17, 2024 - The drug, known as “kush,” causes users to walk around like zombies. Kush—unlike the drug of the same name in the U.S.—is a mixture of several substances, including can... Read More...

Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionfentanylJan 23 2024opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontin

Exhibit on Addiction At Harvard’s Sackler Museum, Yes, Those Sacklers!

AUDIO – IRONIC AND IDIOTIC – Jan. 17, 2024 - As we left the second floor gallery, I looked up at the entrance. Regal silver letters announced it was the Arthur M. Sackler Museum. My stomach churned as I realized th... Read More...

Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionJan 23 2024opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontinPurdue Pharma

Hugh Hefner ‘Was so addicted to painkillers and Viagra’ – Friends Feared He Would Die From an Overdose

FEELING NO PAIN – Jan. 19, 2024 - A new memoir from his widow Crystal Harris, 37, whom he married in 2012, has revealed that many of Hefner’s family members were concerned about him years earlier. Hef be... Read More...

Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaCelebrity SobrietyDrug Abuse and AddictionJan 23 2024life expectancyopioids

First Responders Immediately Give Suboxone After Overdoses

THIS COULD HELP! – Jan. 18, 2024 - The inability to access medication-assisted treatment is one of the main barriers that prevents people from trying it, Ilg said. At the same time, she explained, people who h... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBig PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediabuprenorphineDrug Abuse and AddictioninterventionJan 23 2024opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseRecovery

San Francisco Blows Past Overdose Death Rate In 2023

VIDEO – LIFE ON THE STREETS – Jan. 17, 2024 - San Francisco recorded 806 accidental drug overdoses in 2023, according to preliminary city data published Wednesday, blowing past its 2022 count of 649 as well as 2020... Read More...

Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionfentanylJan 23 2024opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontin

Consulting Company Fined $78 Million For Opioid Deaths

NO JAIL TIME? – Dec, 30, 2023 - Consulting firm McKinsey & Co has agreed to pay $78 million to resolve claims by U.S. health insurers and benefit plans that it fueled an epidemic of opioid addiction through its w... Read More...

Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionJan 9 2024opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontinPurdue Pharma

Genetic Test Assesses Opiate Addiction Risk Using DNA

SCIENCE MAY ONE DAY DO SO... – Dec. 21, 2023 - The test involves swabbing the cheek of a patient to collect a DNA sample that is then used to determine if there is a combination of genetic variants that may be... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBig PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaJan 2 2024opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontin

Man Fights to Overcome Opioid Addiction

VIDEO – IT CAN BE DONE – Dec. 12, 2023 - 35-year-old James Gotte said he’s looking forward to celebrating one year of being sober this month. He said his drug addiction started at a young age, but now he wan... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryDec 19 2023Drug Abuse and Addictionopioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontin

I Was Hooked on Opioids for Years

BUT NOT FOREVER – Dec. 8, 2023 - Eventually, I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and prescribed Concerta, leading to my exposure to stimulants. The concept of taking a pill ... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBig PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDec 12 2023Drug Abuse and Addictionopioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontinRecovery

REALITY: Opioids More Potent Than Fentanyl

EUPHORIA HAS A PRICE – Dec. 10, 2023 - Ross told her husband she’d gone out and used methamphetamine and crack cocaine, according to a Miami-Dade County medical examiner’s report. That morning, Ross’s husband found h... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBig PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDec 12 2023Drug Abuse and Addictionfentanylopioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontinTrauma

Opioid Settlement Divides Victims

MONEY MATTERS – Dec. 3, 2023 - “If it gets blown up, nobody gets anything,” Carter, of Maynard, Mass., said of the settlement. “And still nothing is going to happen to the Sacklers.” Ed Bisch, who lost his 18-year-ol... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBig PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDec 12 2023opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontinPurdue Pharma

Physician Sentenced in $1.2M Opioid Scheme

MAKING A LIVING KILLING – Dec. 7, 2023 - Texas-based pain management specialist Oscar Lightner, MD, has been sentenced to seven years in prison over his role in the operation of a pill mill clinic that unlawfu... Read More...

Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDec 12 2023Drug Abuse and Addictioninterventionopioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontin

Melissa Etheridge’s son died from opioids: ‘He made his choices’

OR DID HE? – Nov. 29, 2023 - Melissa Etheridge has opened up about coping with her son’s death. The Grammy winning singer, 62, lost her oldest son, Beckett Cypher, at 21 in 2020 from causes related to... Read More...

Books, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDec 5 2023Drug Abuse and Addictionopioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontinTrauma

The Brain on Opioids

WILLIAM BURROUGHS – Nov. 19, 2023 - In recent years, the opioid epidemic has surged to alarming proportions, casting a shadow over communities worldwide. This crisis, fueled by an increase in the prescription of opio... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBig PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDec 5 2023Drug Abuse and Addictionopioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontin

Reporting on Addiction Accurately

VIDEO – AND SOBERLY? – Nov. 27, 2023 - The organization Reporting on Addiction began as a response to what its founders identified as misinformed, harmful coverage of opioid use disorder and the people and communitie... Read More...

12 Step ProgramAddiction RecoveryAlcohol AddictionAlcoholics AnonymousBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDec 5 2023Drug Abuse and Addictioninterventionopioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontinRecoveryRehab

Evolving Overdose Crisis Shakes Previously Effective Treatments

METHADON’T WORK – Nov. 21, 2023 - Neither Suboxone nor methadone is designed to treat addiction to xylazine or stimulants. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that of the more than 111,... Read More...

Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionfentanylNov 28 2023opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontin

Gold Standard for Opioid Treatment Gets Cold Shoulder

NOTHING IS PERFECT – Nov. 14, 2023 - If Torrington could wave a magic wand, “I would enact true parity, where people could get access to comprehensive, individualized, multimodal treatment over time,” he said. “Prima... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBig PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionNov 21 2023opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontin

Doctor Sentenced in $5,000,000 Pill Mill Thrill

MAKING A LIVING KILLING – Nov. 16, 2023 - Rosenfield, Taylor, and their co-conspirators issued prescriptions for opioids, including approximately 752,000 pills of oxycodone and 419,000 pills of hydrocodone, un... Read More...

Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictioninterventionNov 21 2023opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontin

San Francisco to Reach Highest Overdose Death Toll in 2023

MORE THAN THEIR HEARTS – Nov. 17, 2023 - “We must remain nimble in our overdose prevention efforts, including getting more people who use drugs into treatment with medications for opioid use disorder in outpatient an... Read More...

Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionNov 21 2023opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontin

Addiction Ravaged My Family and Tribe

NATIONALLY – Nov. 14, 2023 - At 61 years old, I have lost far too much to drugs, and I’ve never done anything more than weed, as a teenager. I have three sons and one daughter, and while I know that my husband and I ... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBig PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictioninterventionInterviewNov 21 2023opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontinRecoveryTrauma

Addicted Fishermen Catch Fentanyl Death

DANGEROUS WATERS ON LAND – Nov. 14, 2023 - As the crew of the clam vessel Lori Ann prepared to set out from Fairhaven, the fleet manager was told that something wasn’t right with a fisherman below deck. ... Read More...

Big PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionfentanylNov 21 2023opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontinTrauma

America’s Opioid Epidemic

STILL ALIVE KILLING PEOPLE – Nov. 4, 2023 - OxyContin was given out in unprecedented quantities: prescriptions peaked in 2012, at more than 255 million in the US over the year. This, and other comparable opioi... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBig PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictionNov 14 2023opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontin

Administration Urges Schools to Carry Opioid Overdose Drug

SAD STATE OF AFFAIR – Oct. 31, 2023 - “We will encourage businesses, restaurants, banks, construction sites, schools, others to think about this — think about it as a smoke alarm or a defibrillator, to make it as eas... Read More...

Addiction RecoveryBig PharmaBooks, Memoirs, Films, and MediaDrug Abuse and AddictioninterventionNov 7 2023opioid crisisopioidsOverdoseoxycontin

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