When someone asks, “How much does the opioid epidemic cost?”, they are often talking about its effects on our country, communities, and economy. It is important for us all to understand just how devastating opioid addiction can be. Even if addiction starts because of prescription misuse, it can lead to long-term losses on which it …
Read more Report Finds Opioid Epidemic Costs the US $1 Trillion Each Year
The three largest U.S. drug distributors (McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, and Cardinal Health) along with drug maker Johnson & Johnson have agreed to pay $590 million to resolve claims made by hundreds of Native American tribes. The Tribes claim these companies fueled an opioid epidemic in their communities. The early February 2022 ruling came after the distributors …
Read more Drug Companies to Pay Nearly $600 Million to US Native American Tribes Due to Opioids
Cities across America are coming up with a new and innovative way to fight drug addiction and save lives through vending machines. Naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan®, has saved countless lives in the face of an ever-growing and deadly opioid crisis. Vending machines that dispense free Narcan® are making the opioid overdose …
Read more Narcan Vending Machines Being Installed Across the US to Help with the Opioid Crisis
New experimental vaccines could stop the worst effects of synthetic fentanyl and carfentanil—the two drugs that have been major drivers of the opioid epidemic in the U.S.—according to a new study published by ACS Chemical Biology in February 2022. The vaccines could be used in emergency situations to treat overdoses and as a therapy for …
Read more Could an Experimental Vaccine Help Curb the Opioid Epidemic?
Forensic experts have identified a new family of synthetic opioids, which have contaminated the supply of illegal narcotics in Washington DC—a district that is already struggling with a never-ending stream of fatal, opioid-related overdoses. These opioids have been identified as protonitazene and isotonitazene. The most distressing news is that these new synthetic opioids are several …
Read more Synthetic Opioids More Powerful than Fentanyl Uncovered in DC
New data released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has revealed that despite ongoing efforts, the opioid epidemic has reached its deadliest-ever levels. In the twelve-month period between April 2020 and April 2021, over 100,000 people in the US died of a drug-related overdose. Staggering Numbers Tell the Story This is a …
Read more Overdose Deaths Top 100,000 Annually for the First Time
Republican senator from Ohio, Ron Portman, has said that he will keep pressuring the Biden administration to address the worsening opioid crisis in the United States by working more closely with China and Mexico. This is with the aim of putting a halt to drug trafficking at borders and ports from those countries, which are …
COVID-19 has affected everyone’s lives over the past couple of years. The principal problems with COVID have been well documented, but there are countless unpredicted issues as well. One of those is the suggestion that the lockdowns enforced by governments in a reaction to COVID may have made the opioid epidemic currently wreaking havoc on …