opioid epidemic - Page 2

Hayward: Trump Claims to ‘Know the Answer’ to Drug Crisis, But Experts Disagree About Causes

2017 was the year rising mortality rates for middle-aged whites in America came onto the public and government policy radar screen, two years after a landmark study from Princeton economists Angus Deaton and Anne Case first detected the statistical spike. The causes of the White Death are complex, but it seems clear that one of the important factors is the rise of drug addiction, particularly opioids – from prescription painkillers to heroin.

PHILADELPHIA, PA - JULY 27: Micheal Rouwhorst, 28, prepares a shot of heroin and cocaine n

U. Texas Researchers Discover Potential Alternative to Opioids

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin discovered what they call a potentially powerful non-addictive painkiller that targets previously untapped receptors in the brain. Such a finding could offer a game-changing alternative for chronic pain sufferers dependent on dangerous prescription opioids.

opioids Enny Nuraheni Reuters

Oregon Bill to Make Heroin, Cocaine Possession a Misdemeanor

A bill that would reduce drug felonies to misdemeanors for first-time possessions of small amounts of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and other hard drugs passed through the Oregon state legislature on Thursday and is likely to be signed into law by Governor Kate Brown.

West Virginia, a mountainous state of less than two million people, is among one of the ha

Feds Indict Texans for Alleged Medicare Fraud

United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price announced the “largest health care fraud takedown operation in American history” on Thursday in which hundreds of individuals nationwide were indicted for their alleged roles in bilking U.S. taxpayers out of $1.3 billion by filing false Medicare claims. One in four of these cases involved opioid-related crimes.

The Associated Press