The latest news, tips and updates
from The Partnership at Drugfree.org.
A new video game helps doctors learn how to determine if patients asking for painkillers truly need them. The game is part of an effort at Northwestern University in Chicago to help physicians fight prescription drug abuse. …
Prescriptions for controlled substances in Tennessee jumped 23 percent from 2010 to 2011, the Associated Press reports. The increase occurred despite efforts to address the state’s prescription drug abuse epidemic. …
Eleven health professional schools have been chosen by the National Institutes of Health Pain Consortium to be designated Centers of Excellence in Pain Education. These centers will enhance and improve how health professionals are taught about pain and its treatment. …
Drug wholesale company Cardinal Health said Tuesday it will suspend shipments of controlled substances from a warehouse in Florida for two years, under an agreement with the Drug Enforcement Administration. …
The Medicaid contractor in Kentucky that announced last week it would stop paying for the opioid addiction medication buprenorphine has reversed its decision, according to The Courier-Journal. …
The Senate Finance Committee announced they have opened an inquiry that will look at financial ties between prescription painkiller manufacturers and pain experts, patient advocacy groups and bodies that set guidelines on physicians’ use of the medications. …
Ohio Governor John Kasich has announced new guidelines to fight prescription drug abuse, which aim to restrict painkiller prescriptions written in hospital emergency rooms. …
A new study finds 13 percent of high school seniors have used prescription opioids for non-medical reasons. Overall, nearly one in every four high school seniors in the United States has had some exposure to prescription painkillers, either for medical or non-medical reasons. …
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the state’s largest health insurer, is instituting a policy to reduce prescription drug abuse, by limiting the amount of pain medicine most patients can get without prior approval from the company. …
About 15 percent of health care providers in New York City wrote more than 80 percent of all opioid painkiller prescriptions in 2010, The Wall Street Journal reports. …
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