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from The Partnership at Drugfree.org.
Naloxone, the drug carried by ambulances to reverse overdoses, is also available in some states to be administered by trained members of the general public who might be present when an overdose occurs. Many lives have been saved by bystanders, and increasingly, notice is being taken of community-based naloxone distribution, says Dr. Sharon Stancliff of the Harm Reduction Coalition.
Amerisource Bergen, the third-largest drug wholesaler in the United States, received subpoenas from the Drug Enforcement Administration and federal prosecutors seeking information on how the company monitors for possible diversions of opioids and other drugs with high potential for abuse.
Antipsychotic treatment has increased rapidly among young people in the United States, with much of the increase coming from prescriptions for disruptive behavior disorders such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Reuters reports.
Texas has launched an online prescription monitoring database, building on a long-standing program that was criticized for being slow and requiring paperwork.
A bill passed by Massachusetts lawmakers last week requires doctors to sign up for and use the state’s prescription monitoring program. The measure is awaiting the signature of Governor Deval Patrick.
Officials from 27 colleges are meeting this week to tackle the growing problem of prescription drug abuse among students.
All Walgreens pharmacies in Arizona will store certain prescription painkillers, including products containing oxycodone, in time-delayed safes. The new policy comes in response to a spike in prescription drug robberies.
Maine’s decision to retroactively limit Medicaid payments for buprenorphine to treat opiate addiction is likely to have disastrous consequences, warns the President of the Northern New England Society of Addiction Medicine.
Almost one-third of prescriptions paid for by Ohio’s insurance fund for injured workers last year were for painkillers. The state has seen a 37 percent increase in the use of such drugs among injured employees over the past 10 years.
A pilot program in Ohio is using fingerprint scans in an effort to fight prescription drug abuse. Patients submit to a scan before seeing doctors in one hospital system, while several pharmacies are using the scans for patients filling prescriptions.
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