The Latest News from Our Field

Two former drug salesmen were arrested last week for allegedly paying physicians to prescribe fentanyl, USA Today reports. Fentanyl has received heavy scrutiny after it was announced Prince died from an accidental overdose of the drug.

Georgia has put a one-year moratorium on issuing licenses to clinics that use medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction, NPR reports. Legislators say Georgia put a cap on the number of clinics because it wants to determine why so many opioid treatment programs have opened in the state.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, June 10- Thursday, June 16, 2016.

Research suggests 50 percent or more of patients with psychiatric disorders abuse some type of drugs, including alcohol. Yet there are relatively few treatment programs that address addiction and mental health disorders together, according to John Tsuang, MD, Director of the Dual Diagnosis Treatment Program at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

A new study finds people who have been prescribed opioid painkillers have a higher risk of early death compared with patients given other pain medications. Much of the increased risk is due to cardiovascular complications, HealthDay reports.

A growing number of older adults are becoming addicted to opioid painkillers, The New York Times reports. They are using the pills to deal with the aches and pains of aging and the anxiety that can come with retirement.

Fewer U.S. teens are smoking regular cigarettes, but more are using e-cigarettes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A New Jersey hospital emergency department has been treating pain with alternative regimens, in an attempt to reduce opioid use. The treatments include non-narcotic infusions and injections, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, laughing gas, and “energy healing,” according to The New York Times.

Almost 60 percent of Americans say they have opioid painkillers at home that they no longer use, according to a new survey. Twenty percent say they have shared their opioid pills with another person.

The rate of accidental deaths in the United States is rising, fueled in part by the opioid painkiller and heroin epidemic, according to a new report by the National Safety Council.

Some states are seeing a significant decrease in the amount of opioids received by injured workers, according to a new study. Reductions between 20 percent and 31 percent were seen in Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Texas.

In the 19 states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, doctors, public health officials and community leaders are struggling to get care to patients who need addiction treatment, the Los Angeles Times reports.

When addiction treatment specialist Zev Schuman-Olivier, MD, found that young adults taking buprenorphine to treat their opioid addiction often stopped using the medication, he began looking for a novel way to address the problem.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has become increasingly alarmed over the proliferation of illicit fentanyl and other synthetic drugs, the acting head of the agency told a Senate committee Tuesday.

The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning Tuesday that taking higher-than-recommended doses of the over-the-counter diarrhea drug loperamide (Imodium) can cause serious heart problems that can lead to death. There have been a growing number of reports of people using the drug to manage their opioid addiction or to get high.

The overdose antidote naloxone is becoming easier to buy around the country, the Associated Press reports. Most states have passed laws allowing people to buy naloxone without a prescription. Drugstores and other retailers are also making it more easily available.

A new report finds insurance plans around the country are not covering the necessary services for people with addiction. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse reviewed addiction benefits offered in the 2017 Essential Health Benefits benchmark plans and found more than two-thirds violate the Affordable Care Act.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, June 3- Thursday, June 9, 2016.

States that use prescription drug monitoring programs have seen a 30 percent decrease in the rate of prescriptions written for opioid painkillers, a new study finds.

The news that toxicology tests concluded Prince died from an accidental fentanyl overdose could spur Congress to reach a deal on legislation to combat the opioid crisis, The New York Times reports.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified 220 counties across the United States that are at risk of outbreaks of HIV and hepatitis C from injection drug use.

One year after it began, a program in Gloucester, Massachusetts that provides treatment instead of jail for those surrendering drugs is showing promise, according to WBUR.

A group of senators is urging the Department of Health and Human Services to raise the number of patients a doctor can treat with the opioid addiction medication buprenorphine to 500, The Huffington Post reports.

A new national survey finds a majority of Americans favor raising the legal age for purchasing tobacco. The survey found more support for increasing the age to 21, rather than 19 or 20.

Many patients who have undergone knee or hip replacement surgery are still taking prescription opioid painkillers up to six months after the operation, a new study finds. Some patients continue to use potentially addictive pain medications even though their hip or knee pain has improved, the findings suggest.