Opioid Crisis Fast Facts
Opioid is abuse prescription pain medication that formulate to replicate of opium.
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Evidence Lacking on Benefits of Cannabis for Treating Chronic Pain or PTSD
By Kelly Young
Edited by David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, and Jaye Elizabeth Hefner, MD
Evidence is limited on the benefits of cannabis use for treating chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to two reviews in the Annals...
Fentanyl Isn’t Just Deadly for Drug Users: Police Are Getting Sickened
This article describes how fentanyl is affecting police officers and medical examiners across the US as they try to investigate it. Read more...
N.E. Fentanyl Deaths 'Like No Other Epidemic' - Boston Globe
Mexican cartels are delivering vast quantities of the inexpensive and powerful synthetic drug fentanyl to New England, causing the highest rate of fentanyl-related deaths in the nation while creating a plague that the area’s top drug...
Oil and Drugs: A Toxic Mix
This article covers drug use and the oil industry in Texas. Thousands of oil field workers are using drugs because of the mix of money and boredom due to the energy boom. Read more...
Opioids Linked to Increase in Cocaine-Related Overdose Deaths
Heroin and synthetic opioids are propelling an upsurge of late in cocaine-related overdose deaths. This is according to a national survey carried out by researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) amongst other drug...
US Pediatricians Warn of Rising Risks to Youth from Loosening Marijuana Laws
New American Academy of Pediatrics report calls on doctors to help protect patients’ developing brains and bodies from the health harms of marijuana amid increased legalisation
The AAP urges pediatricians screen adolescents and preteens...
Treating Alcohol Addiction with Positive Relationships
A ‘therapeutic alliance’, or in other words, a positive and trusting relationship between counsellor and patient, could be the key to successful treatment of alcohol addiction, according to a new study. Patients who reported a more positive...
Revealed: The Global Cost of Smoking
Smoking and its related harms cost the world more than $1 trillion and claim the lives of around 6 million people each year, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Cancer Institute.
$1 trillion...
Inside a Killer Drug Epidemic: A Look at America’s Opioid Crisis
The New York Times article traces the impact of America's opioid epidemic on Americans of all backgrounds throughout the country. Photos depict the human face of a tragedy that is taking too many lives.
Suicide and Substance Abuse
New research has found a significant link between suicide risk and simultaneous cocaine and alcohol consumption.
The study examined the drug-taking habits of 874 participants hospitalised for displaying suicidal tendencies, ranging from...
OxyContin Goes Global — “We’re Only Just Getting Started”
The LA Times investigates the expansion of pharmaceutical companies internationally which are trying to sell highly addictive OxyContin, an opioid medications, and are utilizing entertainers and sports figures to enter markets around the...
Fentanyl Deaths Rise as Curbing Supply Proves Difficult
The November 2016 data chart of overdoses in Massachusetts shows a climbing blue line labeled “fentanyl”. Boston's National Public Radio station reports via article and audio clip on some of the challenges faced by law enforcement and...
Derecho a la salud y tabaquismo en las Américas
Una audiencia histórica. Por primera vez, la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH), de la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA), en el marco del 157 Periodo de Sesiones, concedió una audiencia temática sobre tabaquismo ante...
U.S. National Report Shows Less Underage Drinking and Smoking, but Overall Substance Use and Mental Illness Levels Remain Constant
Some forms of substance use, such as adolescent (aged 12 to 17) underage drinking and alcohol use among young adults (aged 18 to 25), continued to drop according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA)...
White House Eases Cap on Medication for Opioid Addiction
In the USA, Frontline report on changes in policy to allow doctors to issue more prescriptions for buprenorphine; new rules aimed at improving drug monitoring by federal prescribers treating Native Americans and military veterans