Answer Addiction

Tag: opioid epidemic

  • Cher's Houseguest Arrested For Allegedly Selling Illicit Fentanyl

    Cher's Houseguest Arrested For Allegedly Selling Illicit Fentanyl

    Cher was on tour in Australia at the time of the arrest.

    Police in Los Angeles descended on the home of Oscar-winning entertainer Cher to arrest a houseguest who was allegedly involved in the sale of fentanyl that resulted in an overdose death.

    Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Cher’s Malibu home on September 27 and arrested 23-year-old Donovan Ruiz whom officials said was living at the residence.  

    A spokesperson for the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said that Ruiz was arrested for a “narcotics overdose that occurred within the last two weeks.” Cher was on tour in Australia at the time of the arrest.

    Some media sources have alleged that Ruiz is the son of Cher’s longtime assistant, though this has yet to be verified by police.

    What is known, according to a press release from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, is that law enforcement from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Interagency Pharmaceutical Crimes Unit had been conducting a narcotics investigation into Ruiz for a period of two weeks prior to the arrest, and that Ruiz allegedly sold fentanyl to “many users in Ventura County,” including a Thousand Oaks resident who later died from an overdose in mid-September. 

    As numerous media sources reported, police served a search warrant at Cher’s home in the afternoon of the 25th. Witnesses saw several patrol cars and first responder vehicles at the residence, which initially prompted concerns about the singer’s health.

    The Blast reported that Ventura County had contacted the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to inform them of their intent to conduct a search on the premises in regard to a drug-related offense. 

    Detectives reportedly seized evidence that was allegedly linked to Ruiz and sales of an “illegal controlled substance.” Ruiz was subsequently arrested and charged with the sale of such a substance, but again, according to The Blast, additional charges related to the overdose could be expected.

    Ruiz’s bond was set at $500,000, and it remained undetermined if he would make bail prior to his arraignment in Ventura County Superior Court at 1:30 p.m. on October 1. The Blast cited sources that said that Ruiz was a “good person” who would never “sell drugs that would kill someone.”

    At the time of the incident, Cher was slated to perform at shows in Brisbane, Australia.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Prince’s Half-Sister Talks About His Death, Fentanyl

    Prince’s Half-Sister Talks About His Death, Fentanyl

    Sharon Nelson says the music icon was just trying to control his pain when he took the fatal dose of fentanyl.

    First came prescription drugs and heroin. Now, the synthetic opioid, fentanyl, is ripping through the country, killing scores of people who take heroin, cocaine or prescription pills that have been laced with fentanyl.

    That’s exactly what happened to Prince, according to his half-sister, Sharon Nelson. 

    Speaking with ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff for a 20/20 segment that will air Friday night, Nelson said that her brother was just trying to control his pain. 

    “He wouldn’t have taken a pill like that at all,” Nelson, Prince’s oldest sister, said in a preview released by ABC. “When you’re in pain, you’re going to take a pill, hoping it relieves it. You’re not thinking like that; you’re not thinking like a normal person who isn’t in pain.”

    Woodruff said that Prince’s death made fentanyl a household name and raised awareness about the drug. 

    “This is kind of a wakeup call for people around the country about the power and danger of these pills, from a man who—no chance given his intelligence and position in life—would never have taken a pill with so much fentanyl,” Woodruff said. 

    Fentanyl can be used in a medical setting to control severe pain. However, toxicology reports showed that the levels of the drug in Prince’s blood when he died in April of 2016 were extremely high and were a “smoking gun,” as to his cause of death. 

    “The amount in his blood is exceedingly high, even for somebody who is a chronic pain patient on fentanyl patches,” Dr. Lewis Nelson, chairman of emergency medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, told the Associated Press earlier this year. 

    However, there are reports that the singer thought that he was taking Vicodin, not fentanyl pills. Nelson said the fact that her brother, an experienced opioid user, died from an overdose shows how dangerous fentanyl is.

    She said she hopes fans will realize that fentanyl is extremely dangerous and that it can be lurking anywhere—even when people think they know what drugs they are taking. 

    “After all that’s happened to Prince, I know, I can say for sure that his fans will never take that pill,” she said.

    The episode of 20/20 that Nelson appears on is focused on fentanyl, including investigating the source of illicit fentanyl from China and speaking with families who have lost loved ones to fentanyl overdose. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Big Pharma Tries To Slip Benefit Into Senate Opioid Package

    Big Pharma Tries To Slip Benefit Into Senate Opioid Package

    “Big Pharma is trying to hijack the bill and turn it into a giant pharmaceutical company bailout,” said Senator Tina Smith (D-Minnesota).

    Pharmaceutical companies are attempting to inject $4 billion in savings for themselves into opioid legislation being considered in Congress. 

    A package of bills meant to address the opioid epidemic have passed both the House and Senate, and the two bodies are now working together to craft a version that both can agree on.

    The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, has tried to get a clause added to the bill that would reduce the discount that pharmaceutical companies need to offer Medicare beneficiaries whose spending on drugs falls into the coverage gap, according to The New York Times.  

    “We have a good bipartisan opioids bill and we need to get it signed into law. But now Big Pharma is trying to hijack the bill and turn it into a giant pharmaceutical company bailout,” Senator Tina Smith (D-Minnesota) said in a Twitter post.

    Right now, pharmaceutical companies are required to discount brand-name drugs 50% for people in the coverage gap. Next year, the discount is set to increase to 70%. The increased discount was initially designed to reduce federal spending on Medicare’s drug benefit by $7.7 billion through 2027.

    However, after the law was passed increasing the discount, the Congressional Budget Office raised its estimate of the savings to $11.8 billion. Because of this, PhRMA would like the discount reduced to cover only the $7.7 billion savings, calling the updated level a “technical error.” 

    The AARP said that PhRMA’s proposal “will increase prescription drug costs for older Americans while providing a windfall of billions of dollars to the drug industry.”

    The prescription drug discount has nothing to do with the opioid crisis—but because there is broad bipartisan support for passing the opioid legislation quickly, PhRMA is trying to slip its desired changes into the bill while it has momentum, the Times noted. 

    “We are focused on ensuring Medicare Part D is secure for the future by correcting a technical error” by the Congressional Budget Office, said Stephen J. Ubl, the president and chief executive of PhRMA.

    However, most people outside PhRMA disagree. 

    “In the context of the current debate, I would not roll back the drug discounts,” said Mark E. Miller, the former executive director of a federal commission that advises Congress on Medicare. “We need broader changes in the structure of Medicare’s drug benefit. If the discounts are rolled back, patients and taxpayers should get something in return, to bring more competition to the market and drive down drug prices.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Overdose Deaths Increase in New Jersey Even As Prescriptions Decline

    Overdose Deaths Increase in New Jersey Even As Prescriptions Decline

    State attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal says that despite the fatal OD increase “there are reasons for hope.”

    Opioid overdose deaths in New Jersey increased by 24% last year, even as the number of prescriptions written for opioids fell for the first time in recent years. 

    According to a press release from the state attorney general’s office, just over half of opioid overdose deaths in the state were caused by fentanyl and other synthetic opioids meant to mimic its strength. 

    “We still lose too many of our residents to drug overdoses, and the death toll continues to rise,” said Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal. “But, if we look at the numbers, there are reasons for hope.”

    Despite the fact that an average of eight New Jersey residents die from an opioid overdose each day, Grewal said that policies to limit prescriptions of opioids are working. The state’s opioid prescription rate peaked in 2015, when 5.64 million opioid prescriptions were dispensed.

    By 2017, that number was down to 4.87 million, making last year the first “in recent memory when the number of opioid prescriptions fell below 5 million,” said the press release. 

    In March 2017, the state enacted a five-day limit on first-time opioid prescriptions. Since then, prescriptions of opioids have decreased 26%.

    Between January 2014 and March 2017 they were reduced just 18%, so this suggests a significant improvement in cutting back on opioid prescriptions. Overall, opioid prescriptions have been reduced by 39% between January 2014 and July of this year.

    “The decreasing rate of prescription opioids dispensed in New Jersey shows that a smart approach to the opioid epidemic can help turn the tide. If we persist in our efforts to prevent addiction and overdoses, we can save lives,” said Sharon Joyce, director of the Office of the New Jersey Coordinator for Addiction Responses and Enforcement Strategies (NJ CARES).

    In order to try and decrease the opioid overdose rate, the state will begin offering more information online, including data on naloxone administration rates and overdose rates for specific counties. 

    “The Attorney General is not only making his Department’s opioids data publicly available,” the press release said. “Through NJ CARES, the Department is relying on data to target its education efforts and identify its enforcement priorities.”

    The administration is also focusing on outreach efforts, including an ad campaign to highlight a safe disposal program for unused prescriptions.

    And the musical Anytown will be performing at middle and high schools across the state to raise awareness about the dangers of opioids. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • New Opioid Laws Seek To Curb Overprescribing

    New Opioid Laws Seek To Curb Overprescribing

    Though there is no hard evidence of the effectiveness of the laws yet, some professionals see the numbers as heading in the right direction.

    As the opioid epidemic has continued to claim lives, more than two dozen states have put laws in place in the hope of limiting the damage.

    Of those two dozen, the most recent states to take action are Florida, Michigan and Tennessee, according to Harvard Health Publishing. The new rules put in place set limits for the amount of opioids medical professionals can prescribe for pain relief from surgery, injury or illness. 

    Opioid laws vary from state to state, according to Harvard Health. While most states limit first-time opioid prescriptions to seven days, some states, such as Florida, Kentucky and Minnesota, have shortened it to three days unless a medical professional can give reason for a week-long supply.

    “For almost all acute pain problems, including after surgery, a week is usually sufficient,” Dr. Edgar Ross, senior clinician at the Pain Management Center at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told Harvard Health. 

    Additionally, some states have put procedures in place that require doctors to take more steps when prescribing. In Florida, both physicians and pharmacists are required to take courses about prescribing practices. They must also search a drug database to make sure doctors aren’t doubling up on prescriptions for patients.

    Massachusetts has a similar procedure in place, but some medical professionals say it’s not as simple as it sounds. 

    “We have the ability to check the registry to see who else has prescribed it, but it’s not integrated with electronic records,” Dr. Dennis Orgill, a surgeon at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told Harvard Health. “If you have someone who needs opioids over the weekend, you can imagine the logistics of that.” 

    Another new law, this one in Ohio, allows doctors to override and refill acute pain prescriptions, but only after a patient has gone through the first prescription.

    According to Harvard Health, patients will typically have to return to the doctor to get a prescription rather than getting a refill on the phone. If for some reason a refill is made over the phone, Harvard Health states patients will end up visiting the pharmacy more often and making more copays as a result.

    If doctors do not follow the new laws, they may face consequences. As a result, Harvard Health states some patients that need prescriptions for chronic pain are not getting them.

    “Many doctors now refuse to prescribe any opioids because of the fear of sanctions,” Ross told Harvard Health. “I have had several cancer patients whose pain was not well managed because of incorrect perceptions.” 

    Although there is no hard evidence of the effectiveness of the laws yet, some professionals see the numbers as heading in the right direction.

    “Massachusetts’ opioid legislation was signed into law in March of 2016. The overdose death rate then decreased by 8.3% in 2017, the first decrease since the beginning of the opioid epidemic,” Dr. Karsten Kueppenbender, an addiction psychiatrist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital, told Harvard Health. “While it’s impossible to say the law caused the decrease, it’s certainly a welcome association.” 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Underlying Social Issues May Be Fueling The Opioid Epidemic

    Underlying Social Issues May Be Fueling The Opioid Epidemic

    “If we solve the [opioid] sub-epidemic, will there be another sub-epidemic that comes on its heels?” asks one expert.

    A new study has affirmed that there are underlying social issues when it comes to the opioid epidemic.

    The study, published Thursday (Sept. 20) in the journal Science, determined that drug overdose deaths have been increasing since 1979, well before opioid abuse began climbing in the 1990s. 

    According to researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, this could mean that rising overdose deaths are actually connected to “larger societal problems like alienated communities and an increasingly disaffected population.”

    During the study, researchers examined data from about 600,000 deaths categorized as drug overdoses from the National Vital Statistics System. In doing so, they discovered that the overdose deaths “followed an almost perfectly exponential trajectory” from 1979 to 2016.

    Researchers found that the overdose deaths doubled about every nine years, and that by 2016 it had increased to one death every eight minutes.

    “This smooth, exponential growth pattern caught us by surprise,” Dr. Donald S. Burke, senior author and dean of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, told ABC News. “It can be hard to grasp what exponential growth really means, but you can think of it as a nuclear explosion: you start with 2 [deaths due to drug overdose], then 4, then 8, then 16, and so on.”

    Though the increase in overdose deaths was consistent, researchers did not find that there was any similar predictability when determining deaths from a specific drug.

    By utilizing a method called heat-mapping, researchers were able to plot overdose patterns across the country and found that while certain drugs were more prominent in certain areas, nearly every region showed an overdose “hotspot” for at least one drug.

    In doing so, the researchers came to the conclusion that overdose deaths have continued to increase even though the use of individual drugs has fluctuated over time.

    “It implies that there are other forces at work, besides the specific drugs,” Burke told ABC News. “The forces are broader and deeper than we thought, including social determinants of health and technological determinants of health.”

    Burke further explains, “The drugs have become cheaper over the years and their delivery systems have become more efficient… These factors increase drug availability. People are losing a sense of purpose in their lives and there has been dissolution of communities, making people more susceptible to using drugs—increasing demand.”

    While Burke agrees that treatment programs and availability of the overdose antidote naloxone are helpful for individuals, he worries that not enough is being done to address the underlying issues. 

    “If we solve the [opioid] sub-epidemic, will there be another sub-epidemic that comes on its heels?” Burke said. “If we don’t address the social determinants of health that underlie drug use and addiction, there’s a good possibility that the drug overdoses will start to emerge again.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • How Drugs, Alcohol & Suicide Are Affecting The Average Lifespan

    How Drugs, Alcohol & Suicide Are Affecting The Average Lifespan

    A new CDC report has revealed some alarming changes in life expectancy trends.

    A new CDC report reveals that the average life expectancy in the United States is falling for the first time since 1993.

    Drugs, alcohol, and suicide are taking the lives of young Americans at rates so high that the U.S. life expectancy is being pushed down, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) has released a new federal report revealing that the U.S. life expectancy has dipped by about 0.3 years between 2014 and 2016.

    This breaks the pattern of steadily-rising life expectancy between 2006 and 2016, which saw growth from 77.8 years to 78.6 years. The causes for this drop in the general population, says the CDC, are rising drug overdose rates, suicide, liver disease, and Alzheimer’s.

    Drug deaths have been spiraling out of control over the past few years, killing 63,600 people in 2016.

    In 2016, liver disease surpassed HIV to take the dubious honor of being the sixth-highest cause of death for U.S. adults aged 25 to 44.

    Suicide has been on an upward trend for all demographics, including an alarming 9% increase in suicides by children from age 1 to 14 during the study period.

    While more men have died of overdose and suicide than women in the past, that gender gap is quickly closing. Drug overdose deaths jumped by about 19% for women aged 15 to 24 from 2014 to 2016. Suicide rates for young women have grown by a whopping 70% between 2010 and 2016.

    Deaths from Alzheimer’s disease have risen by 21%, and the CDC expects this number to grow larger as time goes on.

    However, the report wasn’t all bad news. Among Americans above the age of 65, deaths resulting from heart disease, cancer, and strokes have fallen.

    Drugs, alcohol, and suicide have been working to drive down life expectancy since 1993. While these increases may not seem like a big deal, Robert Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch at the National Center for Health Statistics, says we should be aware.

    “For any individual, that’s not a whole lot,” he told NPR. “But when you’re talking about it in terms of a population, you’re talking about a significant number of potential lives that aren’t being lived.”  

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Backstreet Boy AJ McLean Inspired to Fight Addiction After Mac Miller’s Passing

    Backstreet Boy AJ McLean Inspired to Fight Addiction After Mac Miller’s Passing

    The pop star is throwing his weight behind a new line of home products made to help those struggling with addiction.

    The boy band singer is driven to stay sober and fight addiction with a new line of recovery products.

    Singer AJ McLean is leaning in to the fight against addiction following Mac Miller’s death. Having battled his own addictions in the past, McLean knows Miller’s struggles all too well.

    “I met him a couple of times at radio shows and he was a stand-up guy,” McLean told ET. “You would never know that he had a problem — but a lot of people had no idea that I had a problem. Addicts can hide it pretty well, so all my condolences go to his family and friends. He’s another one gone too soon.”

    McLean himself has two young daughters as motivation to stay sober, but Miller’s passing has given McLean a renewed vigor in combating addiction. He’s throwing his weight behind a new line of home products made to help those struggling with substance abuse, with a special focus on opioids.

    “With what recently happened with Mac Miller, people need to really understand how serious addiction is,” he remarked. “It’s a huge killer and you’ve just got to surround yourself with the right people, go to your meetings and get a sponsor. It’s a marathon, not a race. I’m getting involved with a pharmaceutical company that is going to be putting out some amazing products. One is an at-home opioid detox kit, non-narcotic because one of the biggest [causes of] deaths in the entire world right now is based on opioids.”

    In 2001, the Backstreet Boys stopped their Black & Blue tour to allow McLean to go to rehab for alcohol abuse treatment. He’s been open about his recovery process, fessing up to having relapsed on booze in the past during his recovery. To this day, McLean still does his best to attend at least five Alcoholics Anonymous meetings per week.

    These days McLean isn’t just staying sober for himself–he has his wife and two daughters, five-year-old Ava and one-year-old Lyric, to look after.

    “Having a family and looking my two girls in the eye every single night and every single morning —  they’re my lifeline,” he admitted. “They’re my everything. Them and my wife. So, I would never in a million years want to let them see me drunk or high or dead or in jail. I want to walk both my girls down the aisle … when they’re 35! As long as I can hold off on boys, I’m going to hold off on boys!”

    McLean’s schedule is pretty busy these days. Besides raising two daughters and backing a range of recover products, he’s also wrapping up work on a new Backstreet Boys album while also working on a solo country record.

    “I have been super busy trying to finish off my solo record, and this past week — I think, hopefully — we finished the Backstreet Boys record!” he told ET. “So, we can have it come out in October as planned, then tour around the world next year.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Pain Patients Rally To Have Voices Heard

    Pain Patients Rally To Have Voices Heard

    “The real message is that people in chronic pain are not drug abusers. Illicit drug use is the enemy,” said one rally participant. 

    People suffering from chronic pain gathered earlier this week in New Hampshire, hoping to share their frustrations about prescription opioid restrictions in one of the states hardest hit by the opioid epidemic. 

    “The pendulum has swung so far that now, people who have legitimate, documented, disease and illness and pain are now having their medications limited,” Bill Murphy, who helped organize the rally, told WMUR.

    Similar Don’t Punish Pain rallies were held in about 80 locations around the country. Participants say that they need pain medications—including opioids—to manage their chronic conditions. They say that long-term use of opioids can vastly improve the lives of people suffering from chronic pain, but that opioid painkillers have become misunderstood and stigmatized because of widespread misuse. 

    “Chronic pain patients are being denied their medications due to a false narrative that the drug epidemic is caused by prescription pain pills,” Kim Patty, who helped organize a rally in Springfield, Missouri, told the Springfield News-Leader. “The drug epidemic is being caused by heroin and synthetic fentanyl.”

    Participants in New Hampshire said this message gets lost. “It’s important for pain patients to have respect,” said Edie Allyn-Paige, who lives with chronic pain. “You know, every day, I have to choose whether or not to get out of bed.” 

    Bobbi Blades has had chronic pain for 30 years caused by a bone that presses on a nerve. She said that without opioids she wouldn’t have been able to complete rehabilitation, which helped her regain the ability to walk. “The real message is that people in chronic pain are not drug abusers,” she said. “Illicit drug use is the enemy.”

    Murphy said that unlike many people who abuse opioids, responsible users take low doses and are functional at home and at work. Despite that, many people have had their doctors cut back on their pain medications under pressure to reduce prescribing. “Because of that low-dose regimen, (people) are still working, raising families, and their doctors are feeling pressured to reduce that pain medication,” he said.

    Cheryl Ostrander, who rallied in Springfield, said she has used painkillers to help her cope with breast cancer, knee replacements, spinal fusions and fibromyalgia.

    “I am struggling really hard just to stay here,” Ostrander said. “I am in pain just like every day of my life. I’m a mess, but I don’t deserve to be treated like a criminal to get my pain medication.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Science Series NOVA Tackles US Drug Crisis in PBS' "Addiction"

    Science Series NOVA Tackles US Drug Crisis in PBS' "Addiction"

    The PBS documentary airs on October 19th.

    The opioid crisis affects entire communities across the United States—yet there is still much about opioid abuse that is poorly understood.

    A new documentary airing on PBS aims to change that by exploring the crisis from different angles.

    ADDICTION, produced by NOVA, tackles both the science of addiction and the real impact that it’s had on Americans.

    “Nearly every family in America has been affected by addiction—the biggest public health crisis facing us today—yet it remains poorly understood, largely stigmatized, and finding treatment can be a daunting process,” said Paula S. Apsell, Senior Executive Producer of NOVA. “NOVA helps cut through the confusion by presenting the latest science on what we now know is a treatable brain disorder, and not a hopeless diagnosis.”

    The documentary explores harm reduction programs across North America and the impact they’ve had—from Insite in Vancouver, Canada (the first supervised injection facility in North America) to West Virginia, which has adopted a harm reduction approach to the drug problem there.

    Under West Virginia’s public health commissioner Rahul Gupta, who will step down from his post in November, the state dispatched a free mobile unit and volunteer medical team to offer a host of harm reduction services including needle exchange, HIV and hepatitis testing, and free naloxone, (the anti-opioid overdose medication).

    A major benefit to investing in a harm reduction approach is financial. Gupta says that with every $1 spent on harm reduction, we save $7 in medical costs, in addition to being able to guide people toward treatment.

    “The costs are really unsustainable if we continue on this path, losing over half a trillion dollars a year for multiple years in our economy. We’ve got to be smart about addressing addiction,” said Gupta. “We have to find ways to prevent it from happening in the first place.”

    Dr. Laura Kehoe oversees a unique program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston that offers medication to overdose survivors to control cravings.

    “We’re seeing people come that day and engage in care, and the vast majority of them, 75 to 80% are returning,” she said. “Tragically, evidence-based treatments are not widely available in the U.S., and patients and families have to navigate a very broken system of care.”

    View the original article at thefix.com