opioids Archives - Page 2 of 3

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 …

FDA Adds Naloxone Info to Opioid Scripts

Post author:Melissa
Post published:July 23, 2020
Post category:legislation
Reading time:3 mins read

The Food and Drug Administration announced a new requirement for drugmakers to help inform consumers about naloxone. Naloxone is a drug that helps reverse opioid and other drug overdoses. The new rule means that every prescription drug containing opioids will now include information about naloxone.

The naloxone notice is just one small thing that they’re hoping will help people stay alive during the pandemic. People who are abusing opioids may not be aware that it’s an option. Many people are isolated from other drug users and staying home during the pandemic.

Overdoses Are Increasing During Pandemic

Drug overdoses are multiplying quickly during the age of COVID-19, and numbers of deaths were higher than ever in 2019 before the pandemic even touched American lives.

Public health officials have warned the public and doctors to expect significant increases in “deaths of …

AMA Says Opioid Crisis Worsened By COVID-19

Post author:Melissa
Post published:May 28, 2020
Post category:opiate addiction
Reading time:3 mins read

The American Medical Association put out an article this week about the opioid epidemic. Just like other public health crises, opioid addiction seems to be on the backburner. Yet people who are addicted to opioids are more vulnerable to COVID-19.

In many places, both the COVID-19 crisis and the opioid epidemic are currently both causing casualties. In the state of Illinois, DuPage County has suffered 315 deaths so far this year from the novel coronavirus. But the agency also reports that there have been 303 overdoses reported in the Emergency Room this year.

Last year, 96 people overdosed on opioids. But the numbers are growing for 2020. For three weeks between April and May, the county experienced 22 fatal overdoses.

Fewer Resources For Addicted During COVID-19

Many of the people who overdosed in Dupage County were alone and practicing social …

Research Proves Opioid Agonists Prevent OD’s and Relapse

Post author:Melissa
Post published:March 2, 2020
Post category:addiction treatment
Reading time:3 mins read

Using Medication-Assisted Treatment once carried stigma in the recovery community. However, recent research has shown how much these aspects of treatment can save lives. Opioid agonists keep people from relapse and overdose death.

Many people have a lack of understanding about why the drug is useful or how it helps people begin the path to recovery. This stigma can keep people from getting the help they need to stay clean and sober. This is a big gap in the recovery world, unfortunately. A lack of MAT options could mean the difference in recovery versus relapse. Researchers say that one group of MAT options, opioid antagonists, are especially effective when used by people new to recovery.

What Are Opioid Agonists?

Opioid agonists help people with heroin or prescription opioid use disorder abstain from those drugs. In recovery, doctors may prescribe these …

Does the Dental Industry Has an Opioid Script Problem?

Post author:Melissa
Post published:February 4, 2020
Post category:OxyContin addiction
Reading time:3 mins read

Recent studies show that the dental industry in America may be an essential link in the addiction crisis, with nearly half of dental prescriptions exceeding prescription guidelines for acute pain management.

The research, published today in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, covered a five-year study period of dental prescriptions.

What Do the Numbers Say?

Dentists are a vital component in addiction prevention that has often been overlooked in research studies. However, the dental industry is responsible for 10% of all opioid prescriptions in the United States. Yet, in three out of ten prescriptions, dentists prescribed a more powerful opioid than necessary following painful procedures. And the prescriptions were typically for longer than three days, which is the current opioid prescription guideline for acute surgery pain.

For the study, the researchers analyzed data on nearly 550,000 dental visits by …

Did Abuse-Deterrent Oxy Work? Purdue Won’t Say

Post author:Melissa
Post published:July 22, 2019
Post category:big pharma
Reading time:2 mins read

In 2010, a reformulated version of Oxycontin was released. The pharma giant, Perdue Pharma, said the new formula would help deter abuse. The new version of the pill couldn’t be crushed, snorted or smoked. This change was expected to make it more difficult for drug abusers to misuse it. It’s been nine years since the different drug formula went into effect, and neither the government nor Purdue Pharma will release information to the public on results.

“We asked for that data probably 40 or 50 times in last four or five years and were denied every time,” Dr. Raeford Brown, whose term as an FDA adviser ended last March, recently told the Washington Post. The committee she served on is still waiting to get the numbers from either the FDA or Purdue.

New Oxy Formula May Have Caused Other Public

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How Sackler Family, Purdue Pharma Targeted Veterans

Post author:Melissa
Post published:February 8, 2019
Post category:big pharma
Reading time:2 mins read

In Massachusetts, veterans are three times more likely than others who take prescription painkillers to die from an overdose. A new court filing in an ongoing lawsuit between the state and the pharmaceutical company and its stakeholders says that this statistic may have been by design.

Discovery in a Massachusetts lawsuit against the private company Purdue Pharma, the maker of Oxycontin, and their stakeholders, the infamous Sackler family, has uncovered documents that appear to show how they specifically developed a marketing campaign to target veterans for Oxycontin sales, hoping to increase their usage dramatically.

The unredacted complaint filed against the pharmaceutical manufacturer, as well as a total of eight members of the Sackler family, unveils a targeted marketing campaign facilitated through a self-help book for service members. Similar to an infomercial, the “survival guide” targeted newly home veterans, telling them …

How/Why Are Children Overdosing on Opioids?

Post author:Melissa
Post published:January 7, 2019
Post category:opiate addiction opioid overdoses
Reading time:3 mins read

Children are overdosing on opioids, but it’s not something that’s being mentioned often. The media often mentions the opioid epidemic regarding addiction that lands people on the streets. The current addiction epidemic is taking place in communities that house lower to middle-class residents. Few news reports tell us about the people who love the addicted that live under the roof each home. Often there are spouses, babies, children, and pets in families affected by opioid addiction.

In 3 and four bedroom homes in counties across America, children are becoming victims of the opioid epidemic in depressing ways. Almost 900 children have died from opiate overdoses since 1999, according to a new study conducted by Julie Gaither, an instructor at the Yale School of Medicine.

Causes of Overdoses

Using numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and other data sources, they …