The Washington Post has reported that suspected overdoses ,not all of them fatal, nationally jumped 18% in March 2020, 29% in April 2020, and 42% in May 2020. These numbers were collected from data gathered from ambulance teams, hospitals, and police. The theory is that the culprit behind the spikes is the Coronavirus pandemic. The…
President Donald Trump has directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to declare a 90 day public health emergency in an attempt to combat the U.S. opioid epidemic. With 91 Americans dying daily from opioid overdoes, Mr. Trump has been under pressure for months to accelerate the federal government’s response to the crisis.…
On July 13, 2013, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Department of Health and Human Services announced the largest ever health care fraud enforcement action by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, involving 412 charged defendants (including doctors, nurses, and other licensed medical professional) for alleged health care fraud schemes. Of the 412 defendants, over 120…
There is an estimated 23.4 million Veterans in the United States. With a 52.7 % increase in outpatient Veterans treated for Substance Use Disorder between 1995 and 2016, addiction is a major concern for Veterans and their families. The demanding nature of military life and experience with combat can be made more complex by substance…
Is Congress Protecting Drug Makers? The former head of the DEA office what was responsible for preventing prescription medicine abuse, said that drug companies and their lobbyists have a “stranglehold” on Congress that protects the 9 billion dollar a year trade in opioid painkillers. Joseph Rannazzisi, who held his position with the DEA until a year ago,…
The Cost of Saving Lives Naloxone, which was first introduced in 1971 under the brand name Narcan, has been called a miracle drug. It has the ability to potentially save tens of thousands of lives by reversing the effects of an opioid-related respiratory distress which occurs with an opioid overdose. The medication is now 4,000…