Teen drug use shouldn’t be looked at as a rite of passage but as a public health problem, say experts, and one that has reached “epidemic” levels.
oxycontin
Study: Most Addicts Get Painkillers from Friends or Family, Not Doctors
Only 1 in 5 people who misuse opioid painkillers like Vicodin get their drugs exclusively from doctors, and 69% never obtain any of these drugs from medical sources, according to a recent study published in the Archives of …
Perspective: Why Comparing Painkiller Addiction to Crack Worsens the Problem
As the Obama administration and the media increasingly promote the idea that prescription drug misuse is this generation’s crack epidemic, I want to take a few minutes to note how irresponsible and off-base this idea is.
U.S. Aims to Reduce Overdose Deaths, But Will the New Plan Work?
The Obama administration announced on Tuesday a new initiative to reduce prescription painkiller misuse and overdose, a problem that has become the leading cause of accidental death in 17 states, surpassing car accidents — and …
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 …
Pharmageddon Deferred: New Measures to Stop Opioid Abuse
There’s a party going on and the entire country is invited. The problem is, it’s an opioid party—and too many Americans have been accepting the invitation.
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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