The opioid abuse and drug overdose crisis has veered into a frightening new phase in which the rise of the easy-to-make, exceedingly powerful synthetic painkiller fentanyl is causing multiple, interconnected deaths at one time. The nation’s capital already has experienced this grim situation, which only shows signs of worsening, the Washington Post reported on April….
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Alcohol abuse spiked during coronavirus pandemic, killing 100,000
Alcohol abuse blew up from a rising concern to a significant killer during the coronavirus pandemic, with 100,000 Americans losing their lives to booze-related causes, a 25% increase year-over-year in the first 12 months of the global infection’s outbreak. The figures from research newly published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows the….
Continue ReadingAs ‘synthetic’ nicotine loophole shuts, warnings about cannabis edibles
Grownups have gotten stark reminders why they must stay vigilant against buck-raking enterprises that exploit young people’s experimentation with intoxicants. Even as Congress has shut a legal loophole used by the vaping industry to keep addicting its customers to harmful nicotine, other dealers are pushing candy-like marijuana edibles on youths. In passing a $1.5 trillion….
Continue ReadingBillionaire clan assailed as ‘scum of earth’ in unusual opioids hearing
Three members of a plutocratic clan finally got a direct, bitter earful from those who suffered grievous harms from the opioid crisis which was fostered, critics say, by their family business — Purdue Pharmaceutical and its powerful prescription painkiller OxyContin. As part of prospective $10 billion settlement of thousands of lawsuits by states, counties, cities,….
Continue ReadingPlutocrats up the ante by a few billion to settle a sorry opioids saga
A plutocratic clan has upped its ante by $1.5 billion in an apparently successful bet that using bankruptcy courts, mediation, and offering to settle giant claims in the opioid abuse and drug overdose crisis will be cheaper and less risky than battling on with thousands of plaintiffs seeking billions of dollars more. Members of the….
Continue Reading$26 billion settlement will fund battles against opioid crisis
States, counties, and cities within weeks could start to receive desperately needed money to battle the deadly opioid abuse and overdose crisis as part of a newly finalized, $26 billion settlement with the largest distributors of prescription medications and a onetime maker of powerful painkillers. Janssen, one of the distributors, and the pharmaceutical giant Johnson….
Continue ReadingExperts still tussle with proper prescribing of opioid painkillers
As the opioid abuse and drug overdose crisis rages, experts — after decades now of experience with powerful painkillers — continue to struggle with their proper handling and prescribing. The federal Centers for Disease Control, on the one hand, has softened its earlier tough guidelines on the medications, while a top government commission assailed the….
Continue ReadingCivil justice system works, as tribes show in major opioid settlements
No matter how wrong-headed critics may assail the civil justice system, Native Americans have clear evidence that liability lawsuits really do work. For hundreds of tribes and their members, the pursuit of justice in the courts soon will help remedy the disproportionate damage they suffered at Big Pharma’s hands in the still-raging opioid abuse and….
Continue ReadingAs life expectancy falls, work is needed in 2022 on substance abuse and road safety
The government statistics paint a persistently grim picture of the nation’s health, notably as it is measured in a fundamental way — our plummeting, average life expectancy. But who wants to be another tragic bit of mortality data? Can we resolve to stay healthier in the year ahead — especially by slashing the skyrocketing numbers….
Continue ReadingBig Pharma slapped back in two separate tries at buck-raking
Fortunately for desperate regular folks, Big Pharma doesn’t always carry the day with its rapacious schemes. Just look at how a federal judge has upended a plutocratic family’s ploy to shield themselves from a wave of lawsuits over their company’s deceitful inundating of the country with powerful painkiller, or how public furor has pummeled a….
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