We lose nearly 130 people a day to drug overdoses. It is the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, and the loss is felt most acutely by the families left behind. By doing a better job of helping families and their addicted children, we can most effectively reduce these deaths and the accompanying pain and suffering, explains Tom Hedrick, founding member of the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids.
The increasing number of drug overdose deaths has led to a rise in the number of organ donations, according to The New York Times.
The Food and Drug Administration this week launched the 2016 Naloxone App Competition to look for innovative technologies to fight the opioid epidemic.
Top headlines of the week from Friday, September 16- Thursday, September 22, 2016.
Top headlines of the week from Friday, August 5- Thursday, August 11, 2016.
Top headlines of the week from Friday, July 29- Thursday, August 4, 2016.
Critics of the opioid overdose antidote naloxone say the treatment encourages repeated drug use, according to The New York Times. Many people overdose more than once, sometimes many times, and naloxone brings them back each time.
New York City’s immigrant neighborhoods are seeing an increase in heroin and pill overdoses, according to The New York Times.
Routinely prescribing naloxone to certain patients who take opioid medications might reduce the number of overdose deaths, a new study suggests.
Medical examiners and coroners around the nation are struggling to deal with the large number of drug overdose deaths, the Associated Press reports.
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.
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 rise in drug overdoses contributed to the increasing U.S. death rate last year, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The death rate increased for the first time in a decade, The New York Times reports.
A New Jersey program immediately connects people to treatment after they have been revived from an opioid overdose with naloxone. Recovery specialists are contacted by hospitals participating in the program once an opioid overdose call has been dispatched.
Top headlines of the week from Friday, May 6- Thursday, May 12, 2016.
The news that Prince was rescued from an overdose of the painkiller Percocet with the drug naloxone six days before he died underscores the challenge of using the life-saving tool, public health experts tell The Wall Street Journal.
A new study finds some of the nation’s areas with high rates of drug overdose deaths do not have a corresponding high rate of drug trafficking. This suggests drugs are passing through counties with high rates of drug trafficking without affecting the death rates of people in those regions, the researchers said. Instead, those drugs are causing overdose deaths in other parts of the country, CBS News reports.
The suicide rate in the United States rose 24 percent between 1999 and 2014, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The researchers say increasing drug use may be one of the contributing factors.
A new government report finds there was a slight decline in the life expectancy of white Americans in 2014. Drug overdoses, liver disease and suicide were the main factors in the decrease, according to the lead researcher from the National Center for Health Statistics.
Top headlines of the week from Friday, March 18- Thursday, March 24, 2016.
Top headlines of the week from Friday, February 26- Thursday, March 3, 2016.
Top headlines of the week from Friday, February 19- Thursday, February 25, 2016.
Fatal overdoses from benzodiazepines—sedatives sold under brand names such as Xanax, Valium and Ativan—are on the rise, a new study finds.
Officials from state and local health departments around the country are urging the Food and Drug Administration to add “black box” warnings to opioid painkillers and sedatives known as benzodiazepines, to alert people that taking them together increases the risk of fatal overdoses.
Guns, drug overdoses and motor vehicle crashes are the top three causes of injury-related death in the United States, according to a new study. Researchers say those causes of injury contribute to Americans’ shorter life expectancy compared with people in 12 other wealthy countries.
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