DOCTORS OVERPRESCRIBING OPIOIDS
Michigan Healthcare Scheme Involved Opioids
A story broke in early 2023 that revealed a Detroit-area doctor had been sentenced to nearly 17 years in prison and was ordered to pay $30 million. The crime? Leading a scheme to bill Medicare and private insurers for unnecessary painkiller injections and for writing prescriptions for millions of opioids.
Pharma Executives Now Face Jail Time for their Role in the Opioid Epidemic
News reports and Justice Department press releases show two prominent pharmaceutical company executives are facing jail time for their role in causing the opioid epidemic.
After Years of Advocacy, U.S. Opioid Prescribing Is Declining
After years of cautionary advice from the CDC, addiction horror stories from patients, and undeniable statistics showing the connection between opioid prescribing and addiction, it seems opioid prescribing trends are finally declining in a measurable, consistent manner.
What is a Pill Mill, and How Do Such Operations Contribute to the Opioid Epidemic?
There were multiple organizations, groups, operations, and factors at play in the inception and promulgation of America’s opioid epidemic. Pain clinics played their role, much to the devastation of countless American families. That’s why it is so crucial that such organizations be held accountable.
CDC Guidelines Suggest More Conservative Opioid Prescribing, but Is it Enough?
In the wake of the ongoing opioid addiction and overdose epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published conservative prescribing guidelines for U.S. doctors to follow. And while there have been some welcome reductions in prescribing as a result, physicians should go a step further and offer patients alternatives to addictive pain meds.
Drug Use and Addiction: The Financial Burden to Communities and Individuals
Anyone who has loved an addicted person knows: Addiction comes with enormous costs. Some of these costs are emotional and mental. The addicted person suffers from the overwhelming compulsion to use drugs and the physical sickness and deterioration that accompanies the use of alcohol and drugs like heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.
Are Medical Practitioners Still Overprescribing Opioids?
The foremost commitment of any medical practitioner is to do no harm, and the vast majority of physicians hold to that. But what happens when the very drugs doctors prescribe are harmful?
Opioid Prescriber to Serve a Seven-Year Jail Sentence for Role in Opioid Epidemic
The majority of doctors practice medicine with ethics, morality, and the intention to help. But when doctors do become immoral, people get hurt. This is the story of one such doctor.
We’re Limiting Prescriptions of Opioid Painkillers—But What About Benzodiazepines?
Any time we try to solve the drug problem, we have to look at the whole of the problem, not just one drug. Have you ever been to a carnival and played the game called “whack-a-mole”? This game consists of a large board with holes through which mechanical moles stick their heads, one after another.
How a Surge in Opiate Misuse in the Netherlands Compares to the American Opiate Epidemic
For some time, the U.S. drug problem has seemed entirely unique. But now, similar problems are beginning to develop in Europe. How will European countries tackle their drug problems?