News
Academic Medicine Leads Efforts to Address the Opioid Epidemic – AAMC – April 30, 2019
AAMC President and CEO Darrell Kirch, MD, lauds the nation’s medical school and teaching hospitals for their multifaceted efforts to tackle pain management and opioid use disorder. Read More.
Former Twin Cities Dentist Settles Suit Alleging He Gave Opioids to Employee, Son – StarTribune – April 28, 2019
A onetime Maplewood dentist has agreed to a financial settlement in connection with allegations that he funneled hundreds of opioid painkiller doses through illegal prescriptions to an employee and his own son, among others. Read More.
Opioids in the Spotlight On National Prescription Drug Take Back Day – CBS Minnesota – April 26, 2019
As the U.S. continues battling the opioid crisis, public agencies all over America on Saturday will give people a chance to rid their homes of unneeded drugs that sit in their medicine cabinets. Read More.
AP-NORC Poll: Many Blame Drug Firms for Opioid Crisis – ABC News – April 25, 2019
About two-thirds of Americans believe drug companies are to blame for the opioid crisis, although nearly as many hold drug users themselves responsible, a new poll finds. Read More.
Majority of Americans Say Drug Companies Should Be Held Responsible for Opioid Crisis – NPR – April 25, 2019
A new poll by NPR and Ipsos finds a third of Americans have been touched directly by the deadly opioid epidemic that still kills more than 100 people every day. Read More.
Opioid Legislation, Who Pays? – Aitkin Age – April 24, 2019
In March, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed a bill (HF 400) dealing with opioid addiction. In early April, the senate passed its version (SF 751) and the 34-page bill is now before a conference committee…the main argument lies in whether the $20 million should come from the state’s general fund or from taxing the pharmaceutical manufacturers and wholesalers. Read More.
For First Time, Pharmaceutical Distributor Faces Federal Criminal Charges Over Opioid Crisis – The New York Times – April 23, 2019
The charges against the wholesaler, Rochester Drug Cooperative, and two of its former executives marked a new tactic for prosecutors in tackling the epidemic of addiction to prescription painkillers. Read More.
Physicians Get Addicted Too – The Atlantic – April 23, 2019
The United States is in the midst of the deadliest, most widespread drug epidemic in its history. Unlike epidemics of the past, this one did not start with mafias or street dealers. Some people have blamed quack doctors—profiteers running pill mills—but rogue physicians wrote no more than a fraction of the opioid prescriptions in America over the past two decades. Read More.
Opioid Prescription Rates Linked to Grandparents Raising Kids – Courthouse News – April 22, 2019
Amid an ongoing public health crisis, the Census Bureau has found that grandparents are raising children more often in states with higher opioid prescription rates, particularly in the South. Read More.
Fentanyl Opioid Patches Recalled for Dosing Error – Kare11 – April 22, 2019
Two lots of a transdermal patch used for delivery of the synthetic opioid Fentanyl have been recalled because the patches inside some carton may contain a different dosage than the carton states. It could lead to potentially life-threatening consequences. Read More.