Hood wants doctors to check for painkiller prescriptions
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says doctors should have to check an electronic registry before prescribing potentially addictive painkillers.
Study: Opioids linked with deaths other than overdoses
Accidental overdoses aren’t the only deadly risk from using powerful prescription painkillers — the drugs may also contribute to heart-related deaths and other fatalities, new research suggests.
FDA reconsiders training requirements for painkillers
The Food and Drug Administration is reconsidering whether doctors who prescribe painkillers like OxyContin should be required to take safety training courses, according to federal documents released Friday.
Obama turns attention to growing opioid abuse problem
The trajectory of opioid deaths in the United States is trending in the wrong direction and should be atop the federal government’s radar screen along with the threat of terrorism, responding to natural disasters and promoting a strong economy, President Barack Obama said Tuesday.
CDC guidelines aim to curb painkiller prescribing
Prescription painkillers should not be a first choice for treating common ailments like back pain and arthritis, according to new federal guidelines designed to reshape how doctors prescribe drugs like OxyContin and Vicodin.
Effort to curb painkiller prescribing faces stiff opposition
WASHINGTON — A bold federal effort to curb prescribing of painkillers may be faltering amid stiff resistance from drugmakers, industry-funded groups and, now, even other
Anti-addiction groups call for new FDA top official
Anti-addiction activists are calling for the Food and Drug Administration’s top official to step down, saying the agency’s policies have contributed to a national epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse.
Federal views diverge on proper use of painkillers
How do you have a conversation about prescription drugs that provide critical pain relief to millions of Americans yet also cause more fatal overdoses than heroin and cocaine combined?
‘Killer heroin’ causing fatal overdoses in East
On an icy night last month, a man entered a grocery store here, walked past the displays of cake mix and paper towels, and went into the bathroom, where he injected himself with heroin.
Man pleads guilty to distributing painkillers
Former Lee County pharmacist Jim Bain has pleaded guilty to illegally distributing the pain killer hydrocodone.
Hospital worker gets 39 years in hepatitis case
A traveling medical technician who stole painkillers and infected dozens of patients in multiple states with hepatitis C through tainted syringes was sentenced Monday to 39 years in prison.