Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
The House on Friday voted 396 to 14 to send the Senate more than 50 bills aimed at tackling the opioid crisis, which is claiming more than 115 lives each day in the U.S. The bills, nearly all of which were bipartisan, were wrapped into a single package, named the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act . They aim to study the crisis and treatment efforts, increase treatment options and bed space, aid the development of non-addictive pain treatments, fight trafficking of counterfeit and illicit drugs, and more.
Four doctors and the CEO of a pain clinic in Detroit are accused of a $200 million opioid fraud scheme that funded a luxury lifestyle of exotic cars, a $7 million mansion and rare designer watches. A federal indictment handed down by the Department of Justice Wednesday outlines what prosecutors say is one of the largest cases of health care fraud in Detroit's history.
Saying the American medical system is flooded with too many prescription painkillers, governors, lawmakers and health officials are trying to come up with ways to cut down on the amount of pills that reach the hands of patients. It's part of the all-of-the-above strategy to combat the opioid epidemic, joining treatment and public awareness campaigns.
Americans think it's safer to use marijuana than opioids to relieve pain, but they were less comfortable with children and pregnant women using pot to treat medical conditions, according to a new Yahoo/Marist poll released Monday. Two-thirds of the respondents in the telephone survey said opioid drugs such as Vicodin or OxyContin are "riskier" to use than pot, even when the pain pills are prescribed by a doctor.