Law enforcement officers working on tribal lands in Oklahoma will begin to carry the opioid overdose antidote naloxone next year, Reuters reports. The program eventually will go nationwide, according to officials at the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Top headlines of the week from Friday, November 20- Thursday, December 3, 2015.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declined to approve a new drug application for a second nasal spray version of the opioid overdose antidote naloxone, Medscape reports. The FDA approved a nasal spray version of naloxone last month.
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved a nasal spray version of the opioid overdose antidote naloxone (Narcan). Until now, the only approved version of naloxone was injectable, The New York Times reports.
Top headlines of the week from Friday, October 30- Thursday, November 5, 2015.
The risk of overdosing on methadone is influenced by a person’s genetic makeup, a new study suggests.
Top headlines of the week from Friday, October 9- Thursday, October 14, 2015.
A new study finds 80 percent of people with an opioid addiction are not receiving treatment. The study examined addiction treatment rates over the past decade, when heroin overdose deaths quadrupled.
Naloxone saved dozens of lives in Chicago last week, after more than 80 people overdosed on heroin suspected of being laced with the painkiller fentanyl, according to the Chicago Tribune.
CVS announced it will add 12 states to its program to sell the opioid overdose antidote naloxone without a prescription, bringing the total to 14. The company already sells naloxone without a prescription in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
The Department of Health and Human Services will remove some obstacles that limit the ability of doctors to prescribe buprenorphine for patients who are addicted to heroin or prescription painkillers, The Huffington Post reports.
New York this year has joined at least four other states in allowing public school nurses to add the opioid overdose antidote naloxone to their inventory, NPR reports. Other states with similar policies include Vermont, Massachusetts and Delaware.
The cost of naloxone, the opioid overdose antidote, is rising as demand increases. In Baltimore, the City Health Department was paying about $20 a dose in February. NPR reports the price had risen to almost $40 by July.
The Obama Administration will spend an additional $100 million to fight drug abuse, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell announced. A major focus of the funding will be medication-assisted treatment.
Ohio Governor John Kasich has signed emergency legislation that makes the opioid-overdose antidote naloxone available without a prescription. Pharmacies will now be able to offer naloxone over-the-counter to people cleared by a doctor or health officials, The Huffington Post reports.
Addiction specialists and legislators are calling for expanding access to medication-assisted treatment for addiction, USA Today reports. Only 40 percent of the 2.5 million Americans who could benefit from medication-assisted treatment are receiving it.
Join Together spoke with Marvin D. Seppala, MD, Chief Medical Officer of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, about how some treatment programs are starting to change their view of medication-assisted treatment for opioid dependence.
Top headlines of the week from Friday, June 19- Thursday, June 25, 2015.
Increasingly, state lawmakers are recognizing the important role that naloxone, an opioid antagonist that blocks the effects of opioids in one’s body, can play in quelling the opioid crisis in the United States, and legislatures are enacting naloxone access laws at breakneck speed.
Use of naloxone kits resulted in almost 27,000 drug overdose reversals between 1996 and 2014, according to a new government study.
Inmates who are addicted to opioid drugs who continue to receive methadone maintenance treatment in prison are more likely to continue treatment once they are released, according to a new study.
Only 25 percent of all substance abuse treatment facilities offer at least one medication to treat alcohol use disorders (AUD), a new study finds. Although four drugs have been approved by the FDA for this purpose, many patients lack access to evidence-based treatments that can potentially benefit them, the researchers say.
The drug naltrexone, used to treat alcoholism, may also be useful in treating methamphetamine addiction, a small new study suggests.
Giving buprenorphine to patients addicted to opioids who are treated in the emergency room is more effective than simply providing them with a referral, a new study finds. Patients given buprenorphine were less likely to need in-patient treatment at a residential facility.
Overdoses due to opioid drug use could be reduced if more emergency medical service workers were allowed to administer the opioid overdose antidote naloxone, a new government study concludes.
Get Support
