Doctor shopping has become an all too common way that addicts use to score painkillers. Addicts will visit multiple doctors and hospitals to try to get multiple prescriptions. Today, however, doctors and hospitals are well aware that this practice is so common, especially when people present themselves with symptoms they can’t identify a cause for. Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs can [...]
As the modern drug addiction epidemic has continued to escalate over the past two decades, many potential methods and innovations have been introduced in order to address the issue. One such method for addressing prescription pharmaceutical abuse, particularly regarding opioid painkillers, are the use of so-called “abuse deterrent” drugs. These are drugs that are specially altered in some way to [...]
America is in the middle of the worst opioid epidemic in its history. The CDC and other agencies have been studying death rates and causes to get a better sense of the scope of the issue. In the early and mid 2000’s, most of the deaths were attributed to overdoses and complications from opioid painkillers. More recent reports suggest that [...]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that in 2016, over 42,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses. About half of those deaths were caused by legal, prescription opiate painkillers, drugs that were supposed to help them treat their medical issues. Overdose deaths from prescription opiate medications have been a major issue and steadily increasing since they became popularized in [...]
Having a loved one or family member who is addicted to painkillers or even using them as directed by a doctor is a potentially risky and dangerous scenario. Deaths from opioid overdoses have reached staggering proportions, with 44,000 reported deaths in 2016 alone. It is important to be educated about first aid procedures to follow in case of an overdose. [...]
