A growing number of states are decriminalizing fentanyl testing strips, seeking to protect people who use drugs from unwitting exposure to the highly potent synthetic opioid ravaging the U.S. with overdose deaths. By SAMANTHA HENDRICKSON COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — At Cleveland’s Urban Kutz Barbershop, customers can flip through magazines as[Read More…]
Tag: treatment
Fentanyl-related drugs permanently made criminal under bill passed by U.S. House
BY: ASHLEY MURRAY WASHINGTON — Lawmakers in the U.S. House passed bipartisan legislation Thursday in an effort to curb staggering overdose deaths from illegal fentanyl substances that are illicitly produced and up to 50 times stronger than heroin. The HALT Fentanyl Act, passed on a 289-133 vote with 74 Democratic votes and support from[Read More…]
Opioid Addiction Treatment Rates in U.S. Have Flatlined, Study Finds
By Cara Murez | HealthDay Reporter FRIDAY, April 28, 2023 (HealthDay News) — The U.S. opioid crisis led to changes that make it easier for people struggling with addiction to get medication from a health care provider to help them quit. But researchers found that for some reason, rates of[Read More…]
New addiction recovery center opens in Morehead
By Brandon Robinson MOREHEAD, Ky. (WYMT) – People living in one Northeastern Kentucky community now have a new option for addiction recovery. On Monday, Gov. Andy Beshear, Senior Advisor Rocky Adkins and members of the community officially opened the new Raven Cares facility in Morehead. The new non-profit residential recovery facility[Read More…]
‘Addiction medicine is primary care’: Patients who visit their primary care doctor for opioid addiction treatment reduce their overdose risk, a new study suggests
By AUBREY WHELAN | THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER PHILADELPHIA — As a primary care physician at Jefferson Health, Greg Jaffe helps his patients navigate diabetes and high blood pressure, flu shots and annual checkups — standard fare for a family medicine practitioner. But for many of his patients, he also oversees a[Read More…]
ARC officials and first responders discuss ‘emergent threat’ of ‘tranq dope’
By Jordan Mullins HAZARD, Ky. (WYMT) – On Wednesday, April 12, the Biden Administration designated fentanyl mixed with a horse tranquilizer called xylazine an “emerging threat to the United States.” In Eastern Kentucky, the emergence of this combination, also known as “tranq dope”, has left officials worried. “This is not new to[Read More…]
Millions with opioid addiction don’t receive residential treatment
Live-in facilities offer ‘some of the best treatment for those with severe substance use’ CHICAGO — Approximately 7 million adults in the U.S. are living with opioid use disorder (OUD). Yet a new Northwestern Medicine study that measured residential treatment use among Medicaid enrollees across nine states found only 7% of enrollees[Read More…]
Biden’s drug czar declares fentanyl laced with animal tranquilizer an ’emerging threat’ facing U.S.
Fentanyl mixed with the veterinary sedative xylazine has been linked to a sharp increase of overdose deaths across the country. By Daniel Arkin President Joe Biden’s drug czar on Wednesday declared that fentanyl mixed with xylazine, an animal tranquilizer known as “tranq” that has been linked to a rising number of overdose[Read More…]
Naloxone can help save someone suffering overdose; what we all should know about this lifesaving drug
By Dr. Trish FreemanUniversity of Kentucky Chances are you or someone close to you has been directly impacted by the opioid epidemic, which continues to afflict Kentucky. In 2021, overdose deaths in Kentucky reached an all-time high of 2,250, with 90% involving an opioid. Because bystanders are present in more[Read More…]
Louisville families, addiction recovery groups applauding FDA’s approval for over-the-counter Narcan
By Dakota Sherek and Molly Jett LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Local families and addiction recovery groups are applauding the decision to allow an overdose-reversing drug to be sold over the counter. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved selling the leading version of naloxone without a prescription, setting the overdose-reversing[Read More…]