CVS and Walgreens have agreed to pay state and local governments a combined total of more than $10 billion to settle lawsuits over the toll of opioids and now want to know by Dec. 31 whether states are accepting the deals. States announced final details Monday of settlements that the two largest pharmacy chains in…

Opioid addiction and the illness and death associated with the misuse of these drugs is a growing health crisis. Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made headlines with news that 2021 saw an unprecedented number of overdose deaths from opioid use.   Although these drugs can offer relief for people with chronic…

After nine years as a homeless drug addict in Los Angeles, Jared Klickstein finally checked himself into a drug treatment center. Unlike the program he had gone to six years before, which had hot tubs, acupuncture, and trips to the beach, this one, in North Hollywood, was deadly serious about personal responsibility. Clients kept a…

Leading consulting firm McKinsey & Co. has agreed to settle claims by hundreds of U.S. local governments and school districts around the country that it fueled an epidemic of opioid addiction through its work for bankrupt OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP and other drug companies. The deal was disclosed in a court filing Wednesday evening…

Strung out on drugs half her life, Brandi Edwards, 29, said the longest she held a job before getting sober four years ago was “about two and a half months.” “I worked at an AT&T call center, a day-care center for a month, fast food places, but I had to take drugs to get out…

Federal law enforcement has issued a warning to the public after police seized thousands of “rainbow fentanyl” pills, a brightly colored version of the highly toxic synthetic opioid, which authorities worry could be targeting children. To date, rainbow fentanyl has reportedly shown up in Arizona and Oregon. At the end of August, U.S. Customs and Border…

The United States has been in the midst of an opioid crisis for over two decades with the pandemic only aggravating an already looming problem. With words such as fentanyl, morphine, heroin, and opioids constantly being thrown around in the media, we can become fearful of these drugs that were once made and used to…

By Ernie Mundell Many opioid abusers cite short-term, legitimate use of an opioid for relief of joint or dental pain as their “gateway” into addiction. Now, research done at one New York State clinic finds that dentists can cut their use of opioids down to zero, using other painkillers for patients instead. The end result:…

Florida’s attorney general has issued an emergency order making it a felony for an individual to possess, sell, manufacture, or deliver eight drugs in the class called nitazenes. The move by the state’s top law enforcement officer is a response to the increased appearance of these synthetic drugs, including one that is up 20 times…

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) is encouraging Australia’s healthcare professionals to reconsider opioid treatment as it is currently administered. At least one prescription for opioids is dispensed to more than three million people annually, according to 2016-2017 statistics collected by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. However, although opioids are…