Opioids
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The Insidious Relationship between Pharmaceutical Marketing to Physicians, Opioid Prescriptions, and Overdose Deaths
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In 2017, as opioid-related deaths surpassed deaths from car accidents and gun homicides combined, the Trump Administration declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency. Since then, policymakers have responded with solutions ranging from pharmacological remedies to prescription drug monitoring programs; however, there has been little accountability of those who…
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Who Assesses the Assessors? Studying Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Data Quality
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The current opioid epidemic is unprecedented in its scope, accounting for the deaths of 72,000 Americans in 2017 and surpassing deaths from car accidents and gun homicides combined. In response, policymakers have been attempting to find solutions. One attempted solution is the creation of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs), databases…
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Opioid Use and Employment: A Complicated Relationship
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Opioid use can be traced back at least as far as the end of the 3rd millennium B.C., with notable crises worldwide in both the 19th and 20th centuries. However, today’s epidemic is “the worst drug addiction epidemic in [U.S.] history,” accounting for the deaths of 72,000 Americans in 2017…
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Preventing Opioid Abuse Through Mandatory Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs
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A new study suggests that mandatory physician-led monitoring of opioid prescriptions may be an important tool in the effort to combat opioid abuse. The opioid epidemic is an increasingly serious problem in the United States, with over 50,000 people killed by opioid overdoses in 2017. President Trump declared the crisis…
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U.S. DEA Report Indicates Tripling of Heroin Consumption Over Seven Years
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Heroin consumption in the United States nearly tripled between 2007 and 2014, and it is now the cause of 10,000 deaths per year, according to an annual report released by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The report, compiled from 1,444 surveys of a nationally representative sample of state, local,…