Officials in Alameda County, California, approved a measure this week that would force pharmaceutical companies selling drugs in parts of the San Francisco Bay area to submit plans for safely disposing of unused medications, or incinerating them.
In one neonatal intensive care unit in Tennessee, almost half of the babies are going through withdrawal from prescription pills, ABC News reports.
A new study finds that OxyContin abuse has decreased now that the painkiller has been reformulated to make it more difficult to misuse. Many people who abused the drug have switched to heroin, the researchers report in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine.
The rise in popularity of the painkiller Opana illustrates the challenges facing law enforcement authorities, addiction specialists and pharmaceutical companies trying to tackle prescription drug abuse, USA Today reports.
Substance abuse is a growing problem among older Americans, and the nation’s health care system is not prepared to adequately address the need, according to a report by the Institute of Medicine.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine on Tuesday announced a plan to fight prescription drug thefts in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
Physicians and other prescribers will not be required to take educational courses under a new government plan aimed at reducing prescription drug abuse. The Wall Street Journal reports the plan does compel the makers of extended-release painkillers to fund courses for doctors and provide safety information to patients.
The manufacturer of the painkiller OxyContin is trying to extend its exclusive rights to the drug, which is set to go off patent in 2013, The Wall Street Journal reports. Purdue Pharma LP says a reformulated version of the drug may substantially decrease abuse of the opioid.
West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw announced the state is suing 14 drug wholesalers, in an effort to block distribution routes for “pill mills.”
A physician accused of prescribing drugs to three young men who died of overdoses was ordered to stand trial for second-degree murder, the Associated Press reports.
A new study finds prescription painkiller abuse jumped 75 percent between 2002 and 2010. Men and adults ages 26 to 49 were most likely to abuse prescription painkillers.
A pilot program to expand and improve access to prescription drug records for physicians, pharmacists and emergency departments is being launched in Ohio and Indiana, the Department of Health and Human Services announced.
The increase in prescription drug abuse is fueling a rise in heroin addiction, NBC News reports. A growing number of young people who start abusing expensive prescription drugs are switching to heroin, which is cheaper and easier to buy.
Pharmacist groups and drug chains have successfully lobbied against stricter controls on prescription painkillers, The New York Times reports. The proposed controls would have applied to hydrocodone products.
Use of drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children jumped 46 percent from 2002 to 2010, according to a new report in the journal Pediatrics.
A new Senate report highlights the growing problem of prescription drug abuse, calling into question the conventional wisdom that drug cartels in Latin America should be the major focus of US drug policy, The Christian Science Monitor reports.
The prescription drug monitoring database in Massachusetts, which has been in operation for two years, appears to have helped stem “doctor shopping,” according to state health officials.
A new study finds college students who use prescription drugs for non-medical purposes are at increased risk of depression and thoughts of suicide.
The Defense Department’s new drug testing policy is raising questions about what a valid prescription is, according to the Navy Times.
A growing number of high school students are using attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs, such as Adderall and Ritalin, to help them get better grades, The New York Times reports. Teens get them from friends, buy them from student dealers, or pretend to have ADHD in order to get prescriptions.
Congressman Hal Rogers (KY) shares what he, his home state and the Congressional Caucus on Prescription Drug Abuse are doing to combat this national epidemic.
Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration will meet this fall to discuss whether prescription painkillers containing hydrocodone should be more tightly regulated, Bloomberg reports.
Regulations designed to make it more difficult to abuse prescription painkillers are leading to an increase in heroin addiction, MSNBC reports.
Two emergency medicine experts have proposed what they call “ideal” prescription drug monitoring software, in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine.
As a growing number of states implement prescription drug monitoring databases to curb “doctor shopping” for painkillers, some physicians say they object to aspects of the programs.
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