Providing take-home naloxone kits to Saskatchewan federal inmates is a "step in the right direction," addictions expert Dr. Peter Butt said. "Not only is it evidence-based, but it's directed towards the safety of individuals and communities so that we have hopefully fewer opioid overdoses occurring within a population that's already been identified as vulnerable," he said. Naloxone is a drug that can stop an overdose from opioids such as fentanyl, morphine, heroin, methadone and oxycodone. The kits are available in certain pharmacies in Saskatoon, Regina, North Battleford, Prince Albert, Yorkton and Kamsack, according to the Pharmacy Association of Saskatchewan. [continues 288 words]
Leila Attar to discuss dangers of the drug with youth, parents Leila Attar was unconscious on the floor of her Ottawa home when a loud knock at her door shook her from a drug-induced blackout at 2 a.m. "It was non-stop I thought it was the cops because of how loud it was," she recalled. It turned out to be a close friend coming to check on her because Attar, now 19, had stopped responding to texts. Later, she would be told by doctors that she was overdosing on fentanyl after taking pills she thought were Percocet. [continues 781 words]
Police are crediting a quick-thinking officer with a Naloxone kit for saving a man's life in Janvier earlier this week. According to Wood Buffalo RCMP, an officer was making a routine patrol through the hamlet, located approximately 120 kilometres south of Fort McMurray, on July 12 when the officer was flagged down. An individual asked the officer to help a 25-year-old resident who was unconscious. The officer found the unconscious person was barely breathing, turning blue and had a faint pulse, forcing the officer to administer two doses of an anti-opiate drug called Naloxone. [continues 476 words]
The County of Renfrew has seen a sharp rise in the number of opioid overdoses so far this year, according to first responders. The County of Renfrew Paramedic Service has answered 95 overdoses calls, which matches the number of overdose cases that paramedics responded to in 2016. Paramedics are seeing on average about a 13 per cent year-over-year increase in opioid overdoses. "Without a doubt the number of cases is going up," said Mike Nolan, director of emergency services and chief of the County of Renfrew Paramedic Service. "There is a significant increase in the number of serious overdoses that can be reversed using Narcan." [continues 297 words]
A new window has opened on the epidemic of overdose deaths engulfing our province. It is being alleged in the U.S. that some manufacturers of opioid drugs misled physicians about the addictive power of these medications. Several states, including Ohio, are suing pharmaceutical firms on that basis. They claim physicians were told that later generations of opioids such as oxycontin - a powerful painkiller - were much less addictive than earlier versions. In 2012 alone, pharmacies in Ohio dispensed 790 million opioid pills. [continues 479 words]
Prescriptions for opioid painkillers have dropped since 2010 in the United States, but the number of Americans getting the highly addictive medications is still too high, a new report shows. Prescriptions declined from a peak of 782 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) per person in 2010 to 640 MME per person in 2015, according to researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Half of U.S. counties saw a decrease in the amount of opioids prescribed per person from 2010 to 2015," said CDC Acting Director Dr. Anne Schuchat. "Overall, opioid prescribing in the United States is down 18 percent since 2010." [continues 543 words]
School districts on Long Island and statewide are stocking naloxone onsite in school buildings to have the opioid antidote at the ready because of the growing issue of abuse of the deadly drugs, educators and health officials said. At least 340 schools across the state, including dozens on Long Island, have provided training for school nurses or other personnel about how to administer naloxone, according to the state Education Department. The Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, based in Westbury, also has seen interest grow in instructing school personnel about the antidote, said Reisa Berg, director of education and prevention. [continues 1060 words]
Dr. Hendrik Visser, WCB medical adviser, says board seeing increasing claims for coverage of medical cannabis The medical adviser for the Workers Compensation Board of P.E.I. says he believes the jury is still out on the effectiveness of medical marijuana. Dr. Hendrik Visser is responsible for reviewing cases and providing medical opinions on injury claims submitted to the WCB in Prince Edward Island. During a presentation at the Workers Compensation Board (WCB) annual meeting in Charlottetown Monday, Visser raised concern about the increasing perception of cannabis as a "magic bullet" among physicians. [continues 355 words]
Desperate for relief from unbearable pain following knee surgery, Lorna Bird says she was forced to buy drugs from the Downtown Eastside streets of Vancouver when her doctor stopped prescribing an opioid in response to new standards aimed at preventing fatal overdoses. "I started with heroin because I couldn't stand the pain," Ms. Bird said, recalling her fears about dying from fentanyl-laced street drugs because "everybody was croaking" and she didn't want her grandchildren dealing with that outcome. [continues 427 words]
It appears that Dr. Hendrik Visser isn't your typical medical adviser for the Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) of P.E.I. The position usually goes to a doctor who has spent a number of years in private or general practice, is getting close to retirement and assumes this less strenuous role, while easing towards hanging up the stethoscope. Apart from testifying at appeal hearings over disputed medical claims or decisions, the adviser often keeps a low profile, and is rarely the public face of the WCB. [continues 419 words]
I t was terrific to see leaders from Surrey RCMP and the Surrey School District offer parents such common-sense advice this week about the drug crisis afflicting our communities. School Superintendent Jordan Tinney and Assistant Commissioner Dwayne McDonald urged parents to talk to their kids about the extremely high level of risk posed by street drugs these days and not to assume that their little darlings aren't experimenting with them. The warning came a few days after Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall made a similar plea, noting that 19 B.C. teenagers have died of overdoses since January 2016 and concerned that teenage drug use may rise soon with year-end parties and summer concerts. [continues 637 words]
Citing an epidemic of opioid overdose deaths across the country, state Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra said Friday that California is joining with more than 26 other states to investigate whether drugmakers have used illegal marketing and sales practices. Becerra said the probe would focus on whether drug manufacturers have played a role in creating or extending the opioid problem. Makers of opioids have been under heat in recent years as the addiction crisis has intensified. A 2016 Times investigation revealed that Purdue Pharma, which manufactures OxyContin, knew its drug's painkilling effects might not last as long as long as marketed, which could potentially promote addiction. The investigation also found Purdue Pharma collected extensive evidence of criminal trafficking of its drug but in many cases did not alert law enforcement. [continues 81 words]
WASHINGTON - The Republican drive to roll back Barack Obama's health care law is on a collision course with a national opioid epidemic that's not letting up. Medicaid cuts resulting from the GOP legislation would hit hard in states deeply affected by the addiction crisis and struggling to turn the corner, according to state data and concerned lawmakers in both parties. The House health care bill would phase out expanded Medicaid, which allows states to provide federally backed insurance to low-income adults previously not eligible. Many people in that demographic are in their 20s and 30s and dealing with opioid addiction. Dollars from Washington have allowed states to boost their response to the crisis, paying for medication, counseling, therapy and other services. [continues 820 words]
The opioid epidemic continues to devastate Americans, and a new report shows that it has only gotten worse in recent years. In 2014, abuse of prescription painkillers such as OxyContin and street drugs such as heroin sent users to hospitals at record rates. That is true in emergency rooms, and even more true in rooms for patients who have been admitted to the hospital. The report, released Tuesday by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, reveals that the rate of emergency room visits resulting from problems with opioids roughly doubled over a decade. Inpatient stays also grew, by 64%. [continues 808 words]
Rex Chapman, the onetime "King" of Kentucky basketball who saw his life spiral into an embarrassing theft arrest as the result of his opioid addiction, on Monday published part of his story and an appeal for more state and federal efforts to combat America's opioid crisis. "I know all too well how powerful the pull of opioids can be," Chapman wrote in an article titled "Our National Pain," in Monday's issue of Sports Illustrated. "I played basketball at Kentucky in 1986-87 and '87-88 and enjoyed a 12-year NBA career. After multiple injuries and seven surgeries, I developed an addiction to prescription painkillers. My masters were Vicodin, OxyContin and Suboxone, and they led me into a life of isolation and erratic behavior and, in the fall of 2014, to my arrest for retail theft. (I later entered a guilty plea, paid restitution for the items I stole and was sentenced to 750 hours of community service.)" [continues 143 words]
Opioid Dealers Embrace the Dark Web to Send Deadly Drugs by Mail Anonymous online sales are surging, and people are dying. Despite dozens of arrests, new merchants - many based in Asia - quickly pop up. As the nation's opioid crisis worsens, the authorities are confronting a resurgent, unruly player in the illicit trade of the deadly drugs, one that threatens to be even more formidable than the cartels. The internet. In a growing number of arrests and overdoses, law enforcement officials say, the drugs are being bought online. Internet sales have allowed powerful synthetic opioids such as fentanyl - the fastest-growing cause of overdoses nationwide - to reach living rooms in nearly every region of the country, as they arrive in small packages in the mail. [continues 1657 words]
Drug use among teens is nothing new. But street drugs are a bigger threat than ever, because they can be laced with deadly substances. The Spectator investigates what youth are using, and how to identify the dangers A GIRL is hanging out with friends after school. One of them has stolen a gram of marijuana from an older brother. They pass around a pipe. It is her first time getting high. She is 14. A 15- YEAR-OLD walks through the hall at school. He sees a classmate selling cannabis-edibles out of a backpack and a friend making a purchase. A GIRL is invited to meet up with friends behind her school. Someone lights a joint and passes it to her. She is in Grade 7. [continues 1911 words]
High school students in North Bay are vaping marijuana juice and crushed Oxycontin before and during school. The startling news came in March when Almaguin Highlands Secondary School principal Donna Breault made a presentation to the Near North District School Board about vaping and its dangers. Board chairman David Thompson says parents need to be aware of what their kids are doing. "I think parents would be shocked," Thompson says. "Students are vaping marijuana juice, crushed Oxycontin and sharing filters, which is putting them at risk of some serious health concerns like hepatitis." [continues 386 words]
At least 30 cases linked to drugs missing from a storage locker likely will be dropped, setting accused dealers free A Halton cop who spent years taking drugs off the street is facing five criminal charges after prescription opioids were stolen from a police evidence locker. At least 30 cases connected to the missing drugs likely will be dropped because of the evidence-tampering, setting accused dealers free. Staff Sgt. Brad Murray was in charge of the Drug and Morality Unit at the Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS) and had authorization to access the locked storage area where all drugs seized by the service were kept and catalogued. [continues 893 words]
Cop led unit that encouraged residents to drop off prescription drugs The former head of Halton Region's police drug squad, who once boasted of major busts and encouraged residents to drop off their unused prescription painkillers so police could properly dispose of them, has been arrested and accused of using his position to steal drug exhibits stored in an evidence vault. Brad Murray, a staff sergeant with 16 years on the Halton force, was charged Sunday with obstruction of justice and two counts each of theft under $5,000 and breach of trust following a seven-month internal probe and external investigation by Toronto police. [continues 898 words]
