Doctors are being more careful with opioid prescriptions as addiction and its effects get more recognition. More than half of doctors across America are curtailing opioid prescriptions, and nearly 1 in 10 have stopped prescribing the drugs, according to a new nationwide online survey. But even as physicians retreat from opioids, some seem to have misgivings: More than one-third of the respondents said the reduction in prescribing has hurt patients with chronic pain. The survey, conducted for The Boston Globe by the SERMO physicians social network, offers fresh evidence of the changes in prescribing practices in response to the opioid crisis that has killed thousands in New England and elsewhere around the country. The deaths awakened fears of addiction and accidental overdose, and led to state and federal regulations aimed at reining in excessive prescribing. [continues 994 words]
Tennessee looks at making naloxone, an easy-to-administer drug that can reverse the effects of opioid drug overdoses, widely available without a prescription. But will over-reliance on the medication be a long-term side effect? [photo] Thomas Clemons instructs people visiting a Baltimore needle exchange van on how to use naloxone to reverse heroin overdoses. More and more states, including Tennessee, are looking at the easy-to-administer drug as a way to stem increasing opioid overdose deaths.(Photo: Amy Davis/File) [continues 1422 words]
The state Department of Health has proposed amending its regulations to allow hospitals to develop procedures under which patients could take medical marijuana and other medications brought from home. While not specifically outlawed now by department regulations, the amendment would give explicit permission for hospitals to formulate their own rules about patient use of medical marijuana, Jill Montag, a Health Department spokeswoman, said in an email. Hospitals that want to permit self-administration of medical marijuana or other medications "must develop and follow policies and procedures to ensure the safe self-administration and security of the medication," according to the Health Department's proposed amendment to the state's Medical Marijuana Program. [continues 501 words]
The state's medical marijuana program has been up and running for nearly eight months, and now some lawmakers are looking to expand the program in 2017. Eleven Legislative Service Requests (LSRs) for the upcoming session -- requests submitted by legislators to have bills drafted -- relate to therapeutic cannabis. Rep. Renny Cushing, D-Hampton, is sponsoring a measure to allow patients to cultivate therapeutic cannabis for their own use. The idea was a sticking point in the original debate about starting a program here. Gov. Maggie Hassan and the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police opposed a grow-your-own provision, so the law was passed without it. [continues 405 words]
It's been a year of positive highlights punctuated by a few disappointments for Kootenay-Columbia MP Wayne Stetski, who stopped by the Cranbrook Townsman on Tuesday to reflect on the last 12 months. Stetski says helping constituents address and solve problems and concerns is one of the best parts of his job, while being in Parliament - and all the history and gravitas that it represents for Canada's 150th anniversary - is exciting and noteworthy. "Every day is different, every day is interesting," Stetski said. "The best part is learning every day. Learning about Canada, learning internationally about things that are happening around the world and you learn about your riding." [continues 733 words]
We need to get at the roots of drug abuse, find out what factors lead people to take illicit drugs, and figure out what support they need to get off drugs and stay clean. We need to get the message out there that drugs are not the solution to problems. We need to step up efforts to apprehend and prosecute manufacturers and distributors of illicit drugs. But first, we need to stop people from dying. And to do that, we must do things that might seem counter-intuitive to many of us, such as providing safe-consumption sites or perhaps free, clean heroin to people who are addicted. We must stop regarding people who are addicted to drugs as criminals or some lower form of life, and see them for who they really are: victims of a terrible illness who need help, not condemnation. [continues 475 words]
Man secretly smoked medical marijuana All may not be lost for a Muskrat Falls worker fighting his dismissal last year for secretly smoking medicinal marijuana on the job. Brendon Uprichard - a structural assembler of the transmission line for Valard Construction on the Lower Churchill project - had a prescription for medical marijuana to control chronic back pain and anxiety since December 2014. The 37-year-old hid this from his employer, and discontinued its usage to pass the mandatory physical examination and testing for drug and alcohol use upon being hired. [continues 431 words]
The number of registered users has tripled during past year The number of Canadians legally signed up to buy medical marijuana has more than tripled in the last year. The Health Canada statistics reflect an explosion in the number of Canadians who are turning to marijuana to get relief from everything from chronic pain to nausea from chemotherapy. By the end of September, nearly 100,000 Canadians had obtained prescriptions and registered to buy cannabis with one of the growers licensed by Health Canada, such as the Tweed company in Smiths Falls. [continues 946 words]
First you need a doctor's note. To purchase cannabis in Nelson at one of the six dispensaries currently existing downtown, you have to provide this documentation to start the process of becoming a member. That note needs to either confirm a medical diagnosis or recommend cannabis to treat it. It doesn't have to be a prescription. In the Nelson Cannabis Compassion Club, which has been run by Phil McMillan since 1999, they provide an example of how the note could read to satisfy their requirements. [continues 812 words]
On a summer morning in 2013, Octavian Mihai entered a softly lit room furnished with a small statue of Buddha, a box of tissues and a single red rose. From an earthenware chalice, he swallowed a capsule of psilocybin, an ingredient found in hallucinogenic mushrooms. Then he put on an eye mask and headphones and lay down on a couch. Soon, images flew by like shooting stars: a spinning world that looked like a blue-green chessboard; himself on a stretcher in front of a hospital; his parents, gazing at him with aching sadness as he reached out to them, suffused with childlike love. [continues 1358 words]
Arizona continues efforts towards legal marijuana The failure of Prop 205 may have been a sobering realization for some, but others still have high hopes for the future of marijuana in Arizona. Several new efforts have popped up to change the landscape of Arizona's marijuana landscape since voters rejected this year's recreational proposition. The most promising initiative comes from the Independent Wellness Center in Apache Junction, and intends not to legalize recreational marijuana, but to increase the number of qualifying conditions for patients to be eligible for a medical marijuana card. [continues 525 words]
Editor's note: Reporter James McLeod had a tip: A shop in Downtown St. John's was selling pot to people who never had a prescription. He asked if we wanted him to try and buy some for a story. We said yes. The sale of marijuana is already a big issue in our community. That importance will only grow in the coming months as the federal government prepares legislation to legalize. So James proceeded and this story reflects his experience. Our hope is it informs the community and prompts necessary debate on this issue. [continues 1079 words]
Linda Birks was only a handful of kilometers away from her new home in Port Albert when she became caught in a thunderstorm and drove her car off the road, down a ditch and into a hydro pole. The trip was supposed to have been the beginning of a new start, she said. Her plan that night of Aug. 17 was to drive her car, loaded with most of her belongings, the two hours to her new apartment, unload and then head back to Guelph to care for her 10 cats and four ferrets that were waiting for her. [continues 1580 words]
Canadians have one of the highest rates of prescription opioid use in the world - five times higher than in the U.K., for example. This is a tragedy because we don't do any better at reducing chronic pain - just at creating addiction and an epidemic of overdose death. Many reasons have caused this, including the influence and marketing tactics of the pharmaceutical industry, the willingness of Canadian insurers to pay for drugs like OxyContin, as well as mistaken assumptions about opioids by prescribers and dispensers. [continues 588 words]
Early this year, a disabled former automobile body worker named Greg Vialpando explained to lawmakers in New Mexico how medical marijuana helped his chronic back pain. State legislators were considering a bill backed by workers' compensation insurers that would have exempted them from paying for medical marijuana. But Mr. Vialpando and another patient described how smoking the drug let them escape years of stupor caused by powerful prescription narcotic drugs known as opioids. The lawmakers ended up dropping the bill, and Mr. Vialpando's expenses for buying marijuana are covered by insurance. [continues 932 words]
Belleville man prevented from using prescribed cannabis at Kingston hospital A Belleville man says he was prevented from using doctor-prescribed cannabis in hospital following spinal surgery at Kingston General Hospital. Nate Craig, 35, underwent spinal fusion surgery on Friday, Oct. 14, to address chronic pain he has suffered since being involved in a car crash in 1999. "When I found out I was going in for surgery, I knew it would be an issue," he said, adding that he contacted the hospital ahead of time and spoke to several directors and managers about his cannabis use, even arranging to have his wife bring in fudge containing the drug for him to eat. He asked prior to his operation if he could use a vaporizer, but he said that request was turned down. "A lot of people were informed." Craig has had a prescription for medical cannabis for 16 years but said the arrangements he had made with the hospital didn't get passed along to the medical staff working on the weekend following his Friday surgery. [continues 454 words]
KGH staff wouldn't let man use prescribed cannabis following painful spinal surgery A Belleville man says he was prevented from using doctor-prescribed cannabis in hospital following spinal surgery at Kingston General Hospital. Nate Craig, 35, underwent spinal fusion surgery on Friday, Oct. 14, to address chronic pain he has suffered since being involved in a car crash in 1999. "When I found out I was going in for surgery, I knew it would be an issue," he said, adding that he contacted the hospital ahead of time and spoke to several directors and managers about his cannabis use, even arranging to have his wife bring in fudge containing the drug for him to eat. He asked prior to his operation if he could use a vaporizer, but he said that request was turned down. [continues 498 words]
FARGO, N.D. (AP) - A group pushing to legalize medical marijuana in North Dakota is making a last-minute advertising push thanks to a surprise donation from a national organization, North Dakota Compassionate Care, which is sponsoring an initiated measure on the state's ballot, quickly organized the ad campaign after receiving $15,000 last week from Drug Policy Action, said group spokeswoman Anita Morgan. DPA is the political arm of a group that advocates for the overhaul of drug laws. [continues 282 words]
Modern medicine has evolved greatly over the years in treating cancer and other illnesses. We have radiation and chemotherapy to reduce tumour growths, we have opioids to decrease pain and there are a number of over the counter drugs we can buy when we're feeling under the weather. But what about using marijuana in treatments for life threatening diseases and other life-altering ailments? It's not talked about very openly, in fact many who use cannabis oil tend to keep it under wraps, said Don Keith, a medical marijuana license holder in Petrolia. That's why he has planned a discussion group at the Petrolia library on Friday, Oct. 28, to offer support and a safe place to talk about using medical marijuana without ridicule or judgment. [continues 911 words]
