Opioid painkillers that have led to thousands of deaths and new drug addicts should be the highest priority of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said Scott Gottlieb, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency. “The opioid epidemic in …
Fatal drug overdoses in West Virginia continued to rise last year and its overdose death rate still far outpaces any other state in the country. A Feb. 13 analysis by the West Virginia Health Statistics Center shows at least 818 …
West Virginia officials have reached a $3.5 million settlement with a wholesaler accused of flooding the state with millions of prescription pain pills. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced the settlement Tuesday with H.D. Smith Wholesale Drug Co. The settlement resolved …
Two major prescription drug distributors have agreed to settle a West Virginia lawsuit alleging they fueled West Virginia’s opioid epidemic with excessively large shipments of painkillers into the state over several years. Boone County Circuit Court Judge William Thompson disclosed …
Drug overdose deaths, including opioid overdose deaths, continue to increase in the United States, according to new data from the federal government. The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that in …
Drug wholesalers shipped 780 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills to West Virginia in just six years, a period when 1,728 people fatally overdosed on these two painkillers, according to an investigation by the Charleston Gazette-Mail. That amounts to 433 of …
As Ohio’s overdose epidemic has climbed toward a record high, an army of lobbyists representing makers of prescription painkillers and their allies poured more than $3.5 million into Ohio political coffers. Pharmaceutical companies and allied groups belonging to the Pain …
Firefighters in Palm Beach County, Fla., have been responding to an average of five opioid-related overdoses every day this year. The Palm Beach Post reports that county firefighters are handling 75 percent more opioid-related overdoses than they did during the …
So far, the fight against America’s opioid crisis has focused on treating addiction and curbing abuse. In February, President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.1 billion to fund health care for addicts, and last month Congress allocated $181 million in …
President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill to curb abuse of heroin and opioid drugs, even while expressing disappointment with Republicans for not providing more money for addiction treatment. The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 creates …
