The latest news, tips and updates
from The Partnership at Drugfree.org.
Illegal street sales of take-home doses of liquid methadone, prescribed to treat opioid addiction, are on the rise, according to law enforcement officials in Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia.
Relatives of patients who overdosed on painkillers told federal regulators Thursday they want changes on the labels of narcotic painkillers, The Wall Street Journal reports. Pain patients concerned such action could limit their access to the medications spoke against the proposed changes.
Prescription opioid overdoses rose seven-fold in New York City from 1990 to 2006, according to researchers at Columbia University. They found the increase in drug overdoses was due to painkillers. Methadone overdoses remained stable, and heroin overdoses decreased during the same period.
Prescription drug thieves are stealing from medicine cabinets during open houses, ABC News reports.
Emergency departments reported a significant rise in the number of visits related to the opioid addiction medication buprenorphine between 2005 and 2010, according to a new government report.
Major League Baseball has announced it is investigating claims that several high-profile players were sold performance-enhancing drugs by a clinic in South Florida, according to Reuters.
Medicine is only effective when it is used properly, and for young people moving to adulthood, learning how to use medicine properly is a critical life skill, explains Nora L. Howley of the NEA Health Information Network.
A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel voted Friday to strengthen restrictions on hydrocodone combination drugs, such as Vicodin. The panel recommended that the FDA make the drugs more difficult to prescribe.
A survey of parents finds just one-third are very concerned about the misuse of prescribed narcotic pain medicine by children and teens in their community, according to HealthDay. Only one-fifth are very concerned about the misuse of these drugs in their own families.
A top Drug Enforcement Administration official said this week the high rates of abuse of hydrocodone combination pills demonstrate physicians aren’t taking the risks of these medications seriously.
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