opioids Archives - Stop Oxy

12 Students in Philly Drink Juice Spiked With ‘Wonk’

Post author:Melissa
Post published:April 28, 2023
Post category:opiate addiction opioid
Reading time:3 mins read

Twelve high school students drank grape juice spiked with a sedative or opioid last Wednesday at Crossroads Accelerated Academy on the 4300 block of Westminster Avenue. School officials say this is something they’ve never had to deal with before and expressed shock at the fact that so many teens would willingly consume a drug on school grounds.

Five minors were hospitalized, ranging in age from twelve to sixteen. Police locked the school down and brought the counterterrorism unit to aid the investigation.

What Is Wonk?

It’s not clear what wonk is made from. Tests are still being done on the substance. School and police officials say “wonk” is a new street opioid. However, they haven’t yet finished running tests on the substance.

Ketamine, an animal tranquilizer, is often sold as “wonk” on the street and in clubs. Ketamine is …

Fentanyl Vaccine Could Be A New Tool To Fight Epidemic

Post author:Melissa
Post published:November 30, 2022
Post category:addiction treatment
Reading time:3 mins read

New research from a team of scientists at the University of Houston aims to create a vaccine to block the powerful opioid fentanyl, which is the top cause of overdose deaths in America. The vaccine is meant for people who already struggle with opioid addiction and hope to break the cycle. For fentanyl addicts, Medication-Assisted Treatment is considered the gold standard of care. However, a “vaccine” of this type could be a game-changer for preventing relapse from opioid use disorder.

Fentanyl is now responsible for the majority of overdose deaths in America. The drug, 50 to 100 times stronger than opioids, is often added to other drugs such as cocaine or Oxy. Some users die because they have no tolerance for opioids. Nearly 150 people die a day from fentanyl overdoses.

What Would a Fentanyl Vaccine Be Able to Accomplish?

…

Pain Management Intervention Reduces Opioid Use

Post author:Melissa
Post published:April 29, 2022
Post category:prescription drugs
Reading time:2 mins read

According to a study on a hospital intervention program for people with thyroid cancer operations, preoperative counseling and having multiple ways to control pain reduced the amount of opioids patients needed. Post-operative opioid prescriptions were dramatically reduced among many thyroid cancer patients discharged. Because of personalized medication management, fewer people took opioids home from the hospital.

Supporting Patients’ Pain Management Individual Needs

The study’s findings were retrospective and focused on thyroid cancer surgery. The study showed that hospitalized people needed very small amounts of postoperative opioid medication for pain management. The authors wrote that offering multiple types of pain management helped manage pain. “Adequate postoperative pain control was achieved using non-opioid interventions. Implementing an intervention to decrease the quantity of unnecessarily prescribed opioid medications during hospital discharge may help to reduce the risk of opioid addiction and overdose in patients …

The Opioid Epidemic Impacts the Film and TV Industry

Post author:Mike H
Post published:December 27, 2021
Post category:opiate opiate addiction opioid
Reading time:5 mins read

The opioid epidemic’s human toll has now become well-known, and in 2021 it’s been more prominently shown on television than ever before.

OxyContin was a central theme in Hulu’s Dopesick Hulu’s Dopesick, as well as several other episodes, such as HBO’s Mare of Easttown, AMC’s Kevin Can F*** Himself, and Showtime’s Dexter: New Blood and American Rust, which dealt with opiate addiction.

With their widespread use, opiates appeared in everything from a suspenseful murder investigation to a darkly humorous parody of old-school comedies.

How the Opioid Crisis Has Been Portrayed

Kaitlyn Dever, who plays Betsy Mallum in the show Dopesick, said she was aware of the situation but didn’t know much about the circumstances. After suffering an accident on the job, her coal miner character develops an addiction to OxyContin. She added that she was …

Washington DC Sees Overdoses From New, Potent Opioids

Post author:Melissa
Post published:December 1, 2021
Post category:opiate addiction
Reading time:2 mins read

Opioids that are stronger than the deadly drug fentanyl are the cause of a spate of overdoses in Washington DC. The drugs, called protonitazene and isotonitazene, were found to be several times more potent than fentanyl. Fentanyl has been responsible for a series of overdose deaths in the past two years. Fentanyl is said to be over one hundred times as strong as morphine. For inexperienced users, exposure or use results in deadly overdoses.

These new drugs, called nitazenes, are passed off as other opioids, are even more potent, and likely cause an overdose.

Who Found These Nitazenes?

The District of Columbia has a lab that frequently monitors the contents of drugs anonymously.

“The DFS Public Health Lab discovered two nitazenes — synthetic opioids — in used syringes submitted to the lab as part of the District’s Needle …

Cherokee Nation Gets 75$ Million Of Opioid Settlement Money

Post author:Melissa
Post published:October 14, 2021
Post category:big pharma
Reading time:2 mins read

The Cherokee Nation has accepted a settlement of 75 million dollars from three of the nation’s largest drug distributors, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson. The money is a settlement from a lawsuit that accused the companies of shipping large quantities of highly addictive pain pills for over 20 years, propelling the opioid crisis and creating a public health emergency for communities across the country.

The settlement is the first of its kind to give money to Native American communities, whose populations, leaders say, are disproportionately affected by the opioid crisis.

The Settlement Money Will Go To Healing

“This settlement will enable us to increase our investments in mental health treatment facilities and other programs to help our people recover,” Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. told reporters.

The settlement will fund much-needed treatment and mental health services for …

Some Individuals Will Get Small Opioid Lawsuit Payouts

Post author:Melissa
Post published:September 30, 2021
Post category:big pharma
Reading time:3 mins read

Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of Oxycontin, recently settled lawsuits from the government for billions of dollars over their role in the opioid epidemic. The money was meant to cover both the human toll and the strain on society, including the medical community. Instead, the opioid epidemic touched every corner of America, and billions of dollars are being diverted to the cause of addiction prevention and treatment.

However, even as these payouts go out to governments, there are still incredible losses for the communities to bear. The most significant losses, of course, are the victims of overdoses and their families. For them, there will be just a small, token payout for their suffering.

Families Still Struggle With the Aftermath

As the financial details were being finalized for the most significant drug company settlements in history, families across the US gathered items …

Kratom Imports Will Be Detained By FDA

Post author:Melissa
Post published:March 31, 2021
Post category:fda
Reading time:2 mins read

The FDA recently re-issued an alert that agents, effective immediately, will detain any imports or supplements that contain kratom. The alert says that the “FDA has seen an increase in the number of shipments of dietary supplements and bulk dietary ingredients that are, or contain kratom…”, also known as Mitragyna speciosa and a variety of other names depending on the region.

What is Kratom?

Kratom was once used as a folk medicine to help people in Southeast Asia recover from opioid addiction and a variety of other remedies. Now, people have been using it in the US for years for that exact purpose and more. Depending on who you ask, people say it has helped them with chronic pain, inflammatory conditions, and mental health issues.

The FDA, however, has not approved the supplement for any use, and there is no …

Purdue Pleads Guilty in Criminal Court

Post author:Melissa
Post published:November 24, 2020
Post category:big pharma oxycontin epidemic
Reading time:3 mins read

Purdue Pharma, the drugmakers responsible for Oxycontin, pleaded guilty to criminal charges this afternoon. The charges are related to the drug, a highly addictive narcotic that has been a primary driver of the opioid epidemic.

Previous Oxycontin Lawsuits

The guilty pleas in the criminal case came after a settlement last month

In October, the Sackler Family (owners of Perdue) were handed an eight billion dollar judgment, a settlement combining thousands of lawsuits from cities, states, and counties. (Not every locality suing Perdue signed off on the settlement, and some were paid out separately, including New York, which received several billion of its own.) Purdue has filed for bankruptcy and may be restructured and overseen by the government as the Sacklers remove themselves from the business.

Perdue’s Criminal Charges

In today’s world, corporations are treated as people. It may be surprising …

25 State Attorneys Oppose Oxy Settlement

Post author:Melissa
Post published:October 16, 2020
Post category:big pharma
Reading time:2 mins read

Twenty-five State attorneys have signed a letter opposing any settlements between the Justice Department and Purdue Pharmaceutical, Oxycontin’s manufacturers.

Purdue, owned by the infamous Sackler family, is preparing to settle a lawsuit with dozens of cities and counties across the United States. The suit itself is over their aggressive marketing and obfuscation with their addictive drug Oxycontin.

The Argument Against the Settlement

The attorneys say that the settlement does more harm than good. By forcing the state to oversee the settlement, the settlement will “improperly entangle state and local officials with future sales of the company’s addictive pain drug OxyContin.” The Justice Department has stipulated that Purdue transforms itself into a “public benefit company.” By becoming such an establishment, it would be run “on behalf” of the cities, states, and counties who are suing it.

The company, therefore, would need …