Despite a policy that led to a decrease in the amount of prescription opioids dispensed in West Virginia, hospitalizations related to opioids have not significantly declined, according to researchers from West Virginia University. More alarming: the data shows that there was more than a 200 percent increase in heroin poisonings following the policy’s implementation.
The study found that overall opioid poisonings rates increased significantly from 2008 to 2015 among all age groups.
President Trump’s declaring the opioid epidemic a national health emergency is a critical first step, but it does not address the urgent need for more federal funds to fight this crisis, according to Arthur C. Evans, Jr., PhD, CEO of the American Psychological Association (APA).
Evans said the declaration does not automatically direct federal funds to address the problem – funds which should go to the states, because they “are battling this epidemic on the front lines.”
The fight to protect public health is more important than ever.
The Senate is moving quickly — and secretively — on their version of legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act. While we don’t know the content of the bill, we do know that the House-passed repeal bill — the American Health Care Act — would cause over 23 million people to lose their health care, restructure Medicaid, pare down essential benefits like maternity and newborn care, result in the loss of over a million American jobs, and zero out the Prevention and Public Health Fund.
Winemakers could soon receive a tax break that would spur production of higher-alcohol wines, a move that would pad their bottom lines but that has health advocates seeing red.
A new medication that targets part of the brain’s stress system may help reduce alcohol use in people with alcohol use disorder (AUD), according to a new study by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health.
Many things can lead to suicidal thoughts, and all of them need to be addressed in different ways. However, alcohol and drug abuse have been linked to suicide, and it’s important to remember that no two people use substances for the same reason.
For decades, when a member of the International Association of Sheet Metal Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, or SMART, (formerly the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association) had a personal problem, they would turn to a fellow member for help. For small issues, friends and mentors dispensed good advice just fine.
Opioid abuse statistics can be alarming. According to the CDC, opioid overdose deaths have quadrupled since 1999, and it is estimated that 78 people die every day in the U.S.
Recommendations to improve patient care, safety, and help prevent opioid misuse and overdose
March 22, 2016
Recommendations to improve patient care, safety, and help prevent opioid misuse and overdose
As part of the U.S. government’s urgent response to the epidemic of overdose deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued new recommendations for prescribing opioid medications for chronic pain, excluding cancer, palliative, and end-of-life care.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released troubling statistics on the growing epidemic of drug and opioid overdose deaths in the United States. The origins of this epidemic have been linked to prescription opioids.
