opioid

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

A Bioethicist Explains Why Restricting Opioid Supply May Not Be The Right Solution For Opioid Overdose

Year after year, America’s drug overdose crisis is worsening. In the 12-month period ending in June 2021, the most recent period for which there is reliable data, more than 101,000 people died from drug overdose in the U.S., – an increase of more than 20% from the previous year. 2021 was also an important year for analysis of the overdose crisis, with numerous books and articles shedding light on both the causes and potential solutions to the crisis. Not all analysis is in agreement, however. As a bioethicist who has spent much of the past several years researching the ethical and policy issues related to drug use, I’ve become particularly interested in an evolving tension between commentators on the drug crisis. While many blame today’s crisis on an increase in drug supply over the pa...

Stigma And Prohibition Have Fueled The Opioid Crisis OxyContin Created

16Sep

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, IN OTHER NEWS

Stigma And Prohibition Have Fueled The Opioid Crisis OxyContin Created

Emily B. Campbell, College of the Holy Cross The highly contentious Purdue Pharma settlement announced Sept. 1, 2021, comes at a pivotal time for the U.S. overdose crisis: 2020 was the worst year on record, with over 93,000 Americans losing their lives to fatal drug overdose. The drug overdose epidemic, now more than two decades long, has claimed the lives of more than 840,000 people since 1999. Current estimates suggest that some 2.3 million people in the U.S. use heroin and 1.7 million people use pharmaceutical opioids without a prescription. Since 2016, I’ve studied the overdose crisis with an eye to understanding its roots as well as its ramifications. As a sociologist, I came to this area of research in my own quest for meaning, as each year brought more funerals of former classmate...

The Purdue Opioid Settlement – How It Could Help The Public Understand The Roots Of The Drug Crisis

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

The Purdue Opioid Settlement – How It Could Help The Public Understand The Roots Of The Drug Crisis

HEALTH Antoine Lentacker, University of California, Riverside There’s a long history of U.S. courts being called upon to fix large-scale public health crises. Lawyers and judges, for instance, were key in settling claims related to asbestos, lead paint, Agent Orange and tobacco. More recently, they have dealt with the fallout of the U.S. opioid epidemic, which is linked to the deaths of some 500,000 Americans over the past two decades. This litigation can serve several important goals. It can identify wrongdoers and hold them accountable. It can repair damage by compensating the victims. And it can protect the public by producing evidence regarding dangerous products and practices. When cases are settled, however, the litigation rarely accomplishes all three goals together. Settlement...

Payout Plans In Opioid Lawsuit Overlook A Vital Need: Pain Management Care And Research Focused On Smarter Use Of Addictive Drugs

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS, Journalism, VIDEO REELS

Payout Plans In Opioid Lawsuit Overlook A Vital Need: Pain Management Care And Research Focused On Smarter Use Of Addictive Drugs

HEALTH & WELLNESS Mark C. Bicket, University of Michigan The opioid crisis has resulted in more than 500,000 overdose deaths over the past two decades. The federal government, states and other entities have filed litigation against drug manufacturers, suppliers and pharmacies as one approach to address the harm and suffering caused by inappropriate opioid prescribing practices. Billions of dollars of funds have since been awarded, and more is likely to come. To ensure these funds are used in areas relevant to opioids, policy and public health groups led by experts at Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University and other organizations have proposed frameworks detailing priorities on what to do with the money. But none of them address the needs of one critical group: patients who suf...

How gene editing a person’s brain cells could be used to curb the opioid epidemic

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY

How gene editing a person’s brain cells could be used to curb the opioid epidemic

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic cripples the economy and kills hundreds of people each day, there is another epidemic that continues to kill tens of thousands of people each year through opioid drug overdose. Opioid analgesic drugs, like morphine and oxycodone, are the classic double-edged swords. They are the very best drugs to stop severe pain but also the class of drugs most likely to kill the person taking them. In a recent journal article, I outlined how a combination of state-of-the-art molecular techniques, such as CRISPR gene editing and brain microinjection methods, could be used to blunt one edge of the sword and make opioid drugs safer. I am a pharmacologist interested in the way opioid drugs such as morphine and fentanyl can blunt pain. I became fascinated in biology at the tim...

21Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Leader to an Elmira Dark Web Opioid Trafficking Ring Sentenced to Over 17 Years in Federal Prison

According to an announcement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of New York, a 31-year-old man from Elmira who, with a co-conspirator, headed an opioid dark web trafficking ring was sentenced to 17 years and six months in federal prison. The sentence was issued after the man was found guilty of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute and distribution of more than 100 grams of a fentanyl analogue. Authorities believe that at least two people died after consuming opioids sold by the man’s ring, while another overdosed on several occasions but survived after being treated. From 2015 to May 2017, Maximillian Sams, 31, and his partner, Robert Ian Thatcher, led an opioid manufacturing and distribution ring from Elmira, New York. Sams and Thatcher used the dark ...