Health officials in B.C. are applauding the federal government for taking steps to allow doctors to prescribe heroin for certain patients. Health Canada said Friday it will propose a regulatory amendment to allow access to prescription heroin, or diacetylmorphine, under Health Canada's special-access program. "A significant body of scientific evidence supports the medical use of diacetylmorphine, also known as pharmaceutical-grade heroin, for the treatment of chronic relapsing opioid dependence," Health Canada said in a release. Diacetylmorphine is permitted in other countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland, to support a small number of patients who haven't responded to other treatment options. [continues 343 words]
Health officials in B.C. are applauding the federal government for taking steps to allow doctors to prescribe heroin for certain patients. Health Canada announced Friday that it will propose a regulatory amendment to allow access to prescription heroin, or diacetylmorphine, under Health Canada's special access program. "A significant body of scientific evidence supports the medical use of diacetylmorphine, also known as pharmaceutical-grade heroin, for the treatment of chronic relapsing opioid dependence," Health Canada said in a news release. [continues 388 words]
The city and province appear to have gotten the point about the needle-littered expanse dubbed "heroin island." Three weeks after Calgary mom Jasmine Van Dyk raised the alarm about a trove of used needles and trash strewn over a small island on the Bow River in the northwest neighbourhood of Montgomery, the area councillor says efforts are underway to clean up the potentially dangerous mess. Coun. Ward Sutherland said fire crews were assessing the island by boat Tuesday and a plan to sweep it clean is imminent. "I've spoken to the fire chief (Steve Dongworth) personally and he knows it's a serious issue," said the Ward 1 councillor, raising concerns about Bow River waters rising. [continues 172 words]
Health Canada has moved to allow doctors to apply for special access to prescribe pharmaceutical-grade heroin to severe addicts, which would overturn a ban imposed by the previous Conservative government. The federal department said in a statement issued on Friday that a "significant body of evidence" supports the medical use of diacetylmorphine, also known as pharmaceutical-grade heroin. "Diacetylmorphine is permitted in a number of other jurisdictions, such as Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland, to support a small percentage of patients who have not responded to other treatment options, such as methadone and buprenorphine," the statement said. [continues 274 words]
Authorities Are Filing More Drug-Induced Homicide Charges, but Complex Cases Show It's Hard to Decide Whether Offenders Deserve Prison or Treatment When police and paramedics arrived at her aunt's apartment in Carol Stream, Adrianna Diana told them she and her friend Christopher Houdek had cooked and shot up heroin the night before. Diana, 20, said she awoke covered in vomit, with Houdek, 21, next to her, unresponsive and "cool to the touch." Her aunt called 911. Paramedics rushed Houdek to a hospital, where he died. The DuPage County coroner ruled his 2013 death an accident by "heroin intoxication." But prosecutors decided it was homicide- and charged Diana and two heroin dealers. [continues 1911 words]
Detective Discusses Epidemic During Senior Coffee Hour Waging a war on drugs in Lorain County hasn't been an easy task and there's still plenty of work to be done, according to Detective Gregg Mehling with the Lorain County Sheriff's Office Drug Task Force. Mehling visited the Lorain Public Library System's Columbia Branch, 13824 W. River Road North in Columbia Station, on May 9 for the monthly Senior Coffee Hour to talk about the growing heroin problem in the county and what he considers to be a tremendous health emergency. [continues 524 words]
Across the United States, heroin users have died in alleys behind convenience stores, on city sidewalks and in the bathrooms of fast-food joints - because no one was around to save them when they overdosed. An alarming 47,000 American overdose deaths in 2014 - 60 percent from heroin and related painkillers like fentanyl - has pushed elected leaders from coast to coast to consider what was once unthinkable: government-sanctioned sites where users can shoot up under the supervision of a doctor or nurse who can administer an antidote if necessary. [continues 1493 words]
Users Could Get Quick Overdose Treatments Across the United States, heroin and other drug users have died in alleys behind convenience stores, on city sidewalks and in the bathrooms of fast-food joints - because no one was around to save them when they overdosed. An alarming 47,000 American overdose deaths in 2014 has pushed elected leaders from coast to coast to consider government-sanctioned sites where heroin users can shoot up under the supervision of a doctor or nurse who can administer an antidote if necessary. [continues 616 words]
Across the United States, heroin users have died in alleys behind convenience stores, on city sidewalks and in the bathrooms of fast-food joints - because no one was around to save them when they overdosed. An alarming 47,000 American overdose deaths in 2014 - 60 percent from heroin and related painkillers like fentanyl - has pushed elected leaders from coast to coast to consider what was once unthinkable: government-sanctioned sites where users can shoot up under the supervision of a doctor or nurse who can administer an antidote if necessary. [continues 646 words]
Federal Law Prohibits Sites That Would Give Supervision, Antidote Across the United States, users of heroin and other drugs have died in alleys behind convenience stores, on city sidewalks and in the bathrooms of fast-food joints - because no one was around to save them when they overdosed. An alarming 47,000 American overdose deaths in 2014 pushed elected leaders from coast to coast to consider government-sanctioned sites where heroin users can shoot up under the supervision of a doctor or nurse who can administer an antidote if necessary. [continues 243 words]
Once Unthinkable in US, Drug Shoot-Up Rooms Get Serious Look Across the United States, heroin and other drug users have died in alleys behind convenience stores, on city sidewalks and in the bathrooms of fast-food joints - because no one was around to save them when they overdosed. An alarming 47,000 American overdose deaths in 2014 has pushed elected leaders from coast to coast to consider government-sanctioned sites where heroin users can shoot up under the supervision of a doctor or nurse who can administer an antidote if necessary. [continues 498 words]
I am, unfortunately, glad to see all the coverage of the heroin epidemic in The Pueblo Chieftain and on Channels 5 and 13. We do need to keep this front and center. I do have a few minor corrections to the story in Sunday's (May 1's) paper. I am a retired ER doctor, not an addiction specialist. And, I think Access Point Pueblo is serving well under half of the people who inject drugs in Pueblo. I base this on conversations I have every week with people who are accessing the exchange and who tell me they know a lot of people who still cannot bring themselves to take a chance on us and who tell us they are obtaining syringes for a lot of others who are afraid to come. And those are just the needle users. [continues 248 words]
The Massachusetts heroin epidemic is unlike any other in the United States. The overdose rate in the state is more than twice the national average. And deaths from prescription opioids like OxyContin are only slightly less harrowing. Unusual, too, is the degree to which these two scourges are feeding off each other. A substantial and spiking number of overdoses in Massachusetts involves both heroin and prescription drugs, something you rarely find elsewhere in the United States. Until now, it's been hard to see how, exactly, heroin and prescription opioids were interacting, since almost all available data lump them together under the heading of "opioids." But a Globe examination of the information in death certificates from 1999 to 2014 reveals the increasingly toxic interplay between the drugs, both at the state level and in individual counties. [continues 1030 words]
President Obama's administration has missed opportunities to stem the opioid overdose crisis, and therefore it's no great surprise that heroin overdose deaths have tripled since 2010. The administration dragged its feet on requiring mental health and addiction treatment to have the same insurance coverage as physical ailments; inexplicably, it took five years to write the federal regulations needed to implement the 2008MentalHealth Parity and Addiction Equity Act. Many insurance plans still ignore the need for parity, studies show. The administration is only this month finalizing rules to implement parity for mental health and addiction treatment in Medicaid... [continues 471 words]
In modern medicine, it is only common sense that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It is well understood by patients and doctors alike that it is much more effective and cheaper to prevent a disease, or catch it in its early stages, than to treat it once it has become a serious health risk. Although there is now an overwhelming expert consensus that drug and alcohol addiction are medical conditions, just like breast cancer or diabetes, our approach to prevention has not caught up to the medical science. [continues 537 words]
Concord, N.H. (AP) - The growing number of patients who claim marijuana helped them drop their painkiller habit has intrigued lawmakers and emboldened advocates. Some are pushing for cannabis as a treatment for the abuse of opioids and illegal narcotics like heroin, as well as an alternative to painkillers. It's a tempting sell in New England, hard hit by the painkiller and heroin crisis. But there's a problem: There is very little research showing marijuana works as a treatment for the addiction. Advocates for medical marijuana argue a growing body of scientific literature supports the idea. But the research falls short of concluding marijuana helps wean people off opioid painkillers and heroin. [end]
Idea Intrigues Doctors and Lawmakers in States Hit Hard by Addiction CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - The growing number of patients who claim marijuana helped them drop their painkiller habit has intrigued lawmakers and emboldened advocates, who are pushing for cannabis as a treatment for the abuse of opioids and illegal narcotics like heroin, as well as an alternative to painkillers. It's a tempting sell in New England, hard hit by the painkiller and heroin crisis, with a problem: There is very little research showing marijuana works as a treatment for the addiction. [continues 391 words]
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - The growing number of patients who claim marijuana helped them drop their painkiller habit has intrigued lawmakers and emboldened advocates, who are pushing for cannabis as a treatment for the abuse of opioids and illegal narcotics such as heroin, as well as an alternative to painkillers. It's a tempting sell in New England, hard hit by the painkiller and heroin crisis, with a problem: There is very little research showing marijuana works as a treatment for the addiction. [continues 240 words]
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - The growing number of patients who claim marijuana helped them drop their painkiller habit has intrigued lawmakers and emboldened advocates, who are pushing for cannabis as a treatment for the abuse of opioids and illegal narcotics like heroin, as well as an alternative to painkillers. It's a tempting sell in New England, hard hit by the painkiller and heroin crisis, with a problem: There is very little research showing marijuana works as a treatment for the addiction. [continues 808 words]
A CHIEF constable who wants to legalise drugs has been charged with overseeing how officers tackle the menace nationwide. Mike Barton believes some Class A and B drugs should be made legal and, in some cases, handed out for free to addicts. Despite his controversial views, the officer has now been quietly elected to an influential role at the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC). The move provoked fury from critics who warned legalising drugs would simply create a new set of challenges. [continues 200 words]
