I’ve been writing about naloxone — the antidote to overdose of heroin, oxycodone or similar drugs — for more than 10 years, most recently for TIME here. The drug has no effect on people who are not physically dependent on …
opioid
Does Suffering From Withdrawal Really Mean You’re Addicted?
The number of prescriptions for opioid painkillers has risen dramatically in the U.S. over the last several decades — nearly doubling for teens and young adults between 1994 and 2007 — and concerns about the abuse of these …
Are Parents Really Kid Junkies? What the Research Says
On the surface, addiction seems like the least adaptive behavior in the world: addicts persist in taking drugs despite negative consequences over and over and over, sacrificing relationships, career, home, possessions, often …
More people hospitalized for prescription drug overdose
Between 1999 and 2006 the number of people hospitalized for poisoning from prescription drugs including opioids (such as OxyContin and Vicodin) and tranquilizers and sedatives (depressants such as Valium, Xanax and Ambien) has increased by 65%—representing nearly twice the increase in hospitalizations due to overdose with other
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Oxycontin-related deaths spike in Canada
Between 1991 and 2004, deaths due to opioid overdose more than doubled in Ontario, an alarming trend that corresponds with an increase in prescriptions for oxycodone, a narcotic pain killer derived from extracts of opium. What’s more, the introduction of oxycontin—a long-acting form of oxycodone—in 2000, was associated with a
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