Addictive Substances
Here Are the Important Questions We Need to Ask About Prince’s Fentanyl Overdose
You’ve probably heard by now that a medical examiner has determined Prince, the musical superstar, died of a fentanyl overdose. While other opioids get more attention, fentanyl is the stealth bomb for abusers. Fact About Fentanyl Fentanyl is 100 times more dangerous than morphine. The dose at which fentanyl produces the pain relief that users…
Read MoreThis is How Heroin and Prescription Opioids Are Different
Patrick Clarke, of Rockville, is correct in his letter to the Washington Post‘s editor. Heroin is not the same thing as prescription opioids. There’s a huge difference. I’m not talking only about the pharmacology. I’m talking about the reasons why people use heroin and prescription opioids. Heroin and Opioids Are Different Heroin is most commonly used…
Read MoreFollow up to President Obama’s Opioid Funding Request
I blogged that President Barack Obama has requested that Congress earmark $1.1 billion to combat the U.S. opioid, and the fact that I support the president on that. Yet the president made no mention the need to help people in pain. The CDC and Johns Hopkins issued opioid prescribing guidelines without out a peep…
Read MorePresident Obama Requests $1.1 Billion to Combat the Opioid Abuse Epidemic
President Barack Obama’s request that Congress earmark $1.1 billion to combat the U.S. opioid abuse epidemic has turned out to be controversial. That’s not surprising, since controversy infiltrates everything related to every president and every Congress. Nothing any president does is viewed by everyone as the right thing to do. But, to me, there is…
Read MoreShame on an Intolerant Firefighter
I was flabbergasted to read the comment made on Facebook by the firefighter in Weymouth, Massachuestts who said “we should just let heroin addicts die from overdose rather than give them the rescue antidote, naloxone.” This would be like saying the obese diabetic should not be treated because they ate too much, or the disease…
Read MorePromising Drugs on the Horizon
Scientists at Tulane University and the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System are working on a new painkiller that would be safer and not be addictive. Research like this should give everyone hope. There are a number of promising drugs in development, such as this one, that could replace the current type of opioids. The…
Read MoreAn Ironic Perspective on the Opioid Crisis
Reporting on the Opioid Crisis I was interviewed by a reporter yesterday for a column that will soon appear in a national online publication about whether naloxone (opioid antidote) should be available for people who may overdose on opioids. Hmm, I thought, who would not support making a life saving treatment available to people we…
Read MoreThis is Why Sen. Edward Markey Is Short-Sighted on Opioid Crisis
Massachusetts Democratic Senator Edward Markey wants the FDA to rescind its approval of OxyContin for children, and then convene an advisory panel to reconsider the issue. Senator Markey is well intentioned but misinformed. The FDA is not the problem. The agency has not “willfully blinded itself of the warning signs” of prescription painkillers, as Senator…
Read MoreIs This the Reason Some Restaurants in China are Serving Opium?
The China Food and Drug Administration is investigating 35 restaurants in China for potentially using powdered (and possibly addictive) opium poppies to season their food. They detected morphine and codeine as well as other poppy derivatives in the food. The Chinese restaurants involved might view using powdered poppies as an innocuous way to keep patrons…
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