(Reuters Health) – As a method for reducing health costs and improving care for people with complex medical problems, an early effort at “hotspotting” patients to get extra attention has turned out to be not so hot. Researchers looked at so-called “superutiliz... More »
(Reuters Health) – Teens and young adults have a higher likelihood of taking up marijuana if their parents use the drug, a new study suggests. From a survey of nearly 25,000 parent-child pairs, researchers found that parental marijuana use was associated with ... More »
(Reuters) – An Oklahoma judge on Friday said Johnson & Johnson must pay that state $465 million for fueling the opioid epidemic through the deceptive marketing of painkillers, down from his original award of $572 million. The decision by Cleveland County Distr... More »
CLEVELAND (Reuters) – A landmark trial over the U.S. opioid epidemic is on track to begin on Monday after drug companies and local governments failed to agree on a settlement on Friday that had been expected to be valued at around $50 billion. Top executives o... More »
(Reuters) – From the start of the sprawling U.S. litigation seeking to hold drugmakers and distributors liable for the country’s opioid epidemic, Judge Dan Polster has made one thing clear: he never wanted a trial. On Friday, Polster will make his most dramati... More »
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australia will provide A$3 million ($2.03 million) for research on the use of cannabis to help cancer patients, its health minister said on Sunday, as the demand for medicinal cannabis products grows rapidly. While legal in most of Austra... More »
NORMAN, Okla./BOSTON (Reuters) – An Oklahoma judge on Monday ordered Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) to pay $572.1 million to the state for its part in fueling an opioid epidemic by deceptively marketing addictive painkillers, a sum that was substantially less than ... More »
(Reuters) – An Oklahoma judge on Monday ruled that Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) was liable for its part in fueling the opioid epidemic and ordered the drugmaker to pay $572 million following a trial in a lawsuit brought by the state’s attorney general. J&J said i... More »
(Reuters) – A Florida man who was found to have ecstasy pills shaped like U.S. President Donald Trump’s head has been charged with unlawful possession of controlled substances, according Pinellas County court documents. Brendan Dolan-King, 23, was charged on F... More »
(Reuters Health) – – Binge drinking, often associated with young adults, isn’t as rare as some might think among older Americans, a recent U.S. study suggests. Almost 11% of adults aged 65 and older reported binge drinking – having more than five drinks for me... More »
MANILA (Reuters) – Impunity and unlawful killings continue unabated three years into the Philippines’ war on drugs, with a pattern of executions under the guise of police sting operations and a state unwilling to investigate them, a report said on Monday. The ... More »
Millions of people in the U.S. have chronic viral hepatitis, most without knowing it, so the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other groups have designated May as Hepatitis Awareness Month and May 19 as Hepatitis Testing Day. “Hepatitis is a silen... More »
(Reuters Health) – A tiny percentage of people at high risk for opioid overdose are getting prescriptions for naloxone, a medication that could potentially save their lives, a new study finds. Researchers determined that a mere 1.5 percent of high-risk patient... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he may extend a March 1 deadline for reaching a trade deal with China while keeping current tariffs in place, adding that the negotiations are “very complicated.” “There is a possibility that I ... More »
(Reuters Health) – Cigarette use decreased among young women – including pregnant women – during the past decade in the U.S., according to a new study. But, researchers found, use of marijuana blunts rose. A blunt is a cigar that’s been hollowed out and filled... More »
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Kurt Cobain’s daughter said on Tuesday the United States should overcome its taboo about mental health and addiction almost a quarter of century after her rock star father took his own life. Frances Bean Cobain was speaking in Ireland at the... More »
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli pharmaceuticals company PainReform has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin late-stage clinical studies for a pain relief drug that is a departure from opiate-based narcotics, it said on Tues... More »
(Reuters Health) – National Guard soldiers may be plagued with sleep problems when they return home from the battlefield, according to a small study. For the new analysis, published online in Sleep Health, researchers first surveyed 928 veterans on National Gu... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on Friday reversed an order that halted a Louisiana drug wholesaler’s opioid sales over allegations it failed to report suspiciously large orders by pharmacies for the narcotics, court documents s... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said on Friday it had suspended a Louisiana pharmaceutical distributor from selling controlled substances for allegedly selling unusually large quantities of opioids to pharmacies without reportin... More »
(Reuters) – Both advocates and opponents of legalized marijuana reacted with caution on Saturday to signs from the White House that growers in U.S. states where the drug is permitted would be shielded from federal prosecution, saying it was too early to know t... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump will lift his administration’s plans for a possible crackdown on states that have legalized marijuana after talks with a Colorado senator, the White House said on Friday, an action that undercuts U.S. Attorney Gene... More »
(Reuters) – Arkansas’ attorney general on Thursday joined the widening mass of litigation against opioid manufacturers, accusing three drugmakers of promoting addictive painkillers in ways that falsely denied or trivialized their risks. Arkansas Attorney Gener... More »
Police officers block a road near the scene of a fire which broke out in a drug abuse treatment center in Baku, Azerbaijan March 2, 2018. REUTERS/Aziz Karimov BAKU (Reuters) – A fire killed at least 26 people in a drug abuse treatment center in Baku, the capit... More »
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to his adviser Kellyanne Conway during an opioid summit being held at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 1, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday called for a feder... More »
(Reuters) – KemPharm Inc said on Friday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its opioid painkiller Apadaz for the short-term management of acute pain, sending the shares of the drugmaker up as much as 36 percent in late afternoon trading. The company... More »
A man, whose wife was arrested during an anti-drug operation and has a bout of tuberculosis, coughs outside a window while his daughter plays with candles inside a shanty in Navotas, Metro Manila, Philippines, December 6, 2017. REUTERS/Dondi Tawatao MANILA Reu... More »
FILE PHOTO: A box of the Fentanyl-based drug Subsys, made by Insys Therapeutics Inc, appears in an undated photograph provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama. U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama/Hando... More »
ICSS – Securing Sport 2015 – Harold Pratt House, New York – 3/11/15 Governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey, speaking at Day 1 of Securing Sport 2015 – the annual conference of the International Centre for Sports Security (ICSS) Photo Hilary Swift for ICSS PHOENIX (Re... More »
FILE PHOTO: A pharmacist holds prescription painkiller OxyContin, 40mg pills, made by Purdue Pharma L.D. at a local pharmacy, in Provo, Utah, U.S. on April 25, 2017. REUTERS/George Frey/File Photo (Reuters) – Delaware on Friday became the latest state to file ... More »
FILE PHOTO: A used container of the drug Narcan used against opioid overdoses lies on the ground in a park in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. October 26, 2017. REUTERS/Charles Mostoller CHICAGO (Reuters) – The opioid crisis is rippli... More »
(Reuters) – Indivior’s experimental drug to help fight America’s growing opioid addiction crisis was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration late on Thursday, boosting its sales prospects as competitors threaten revenues from an older product. Shares... More »
Opioid drug abuse has killed more Americans than the Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam wars combined, and U.S. veterans and advocates this Veteran's Day are focusing on how to help victims of the crisis. More »
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said on Thursday that it would classify illicit versions of the synthetic opioid fentanyl at the same level as heroin, allowing criminal prosecution of anyone who possesses, distributes or manufactures illicit versions ... More »
The billionaire founder of Insys Therapeutics Inc was arrested on Thursday on U.S. charges he participated in a scheme to bribe doctors to prescribe a fentanyl-based cancer pain drug, marking a step by authorities to fight the opioid epidemic. More »
U.S. President Donald Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency on Thursday, stopping short of a national emergency declaration he promised months ago that would have freed up more federal money. More »
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions equated the opioid epidemic to a personal failing by many Americans who cannot "say no" to drugs on Thursday, and he said that marijuana could be serving as a gateway to the problem. More »
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would review a report that his nominee for drug czar championed a law that weakened the government's ability to fight the nation's opioid epidemic, and said he could consider jettisoning the pick. More »
A group of civil society organizations has demanded that Apple Inc (AAPL.O) remove from its app store games it said violated the tech firm's guidelines and promoted violence and killings commonplace in the Philippines' war on drugs. More »
New Jersey on Thursday accused Insys Therapeutics Inc of engaging in a fraudulent scheme to boost sales of a fentanyl-based cancer pain drug, as Massachusetts announced a $500,000 settlement with the drugmaker to resolve similar allegations. More »
The Philippines' top police commander on Tuesday said he would not prevent officers involved in the country's bloody war on drugs from seeking church protection and testifying to their alleged abuses, providing they told the truth. More »
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told police on Monday they could kill "idiots" who violently resist arrest, two days after hundreds of people turned the funeral of a slain teenager into a protest against his deadly war on drugs. More »
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on Friday proposed a 20 percent reduction in the manufacture of certain commonly prescribed opioid painkillers as well as other controlled substances for next year. More »
By Andrew M. Seaman(Reuters Health) – The United States needs to curb excessive opioid prescribing and improve access to pain management techniques, More »
By Lisa Rapaport(Reuters Health) – – Recreational drugs like “MDMA” and amphetamines have long been linked to a variety of movement disorders, and a More »
By Andrew M. Seaman(Reuters Health) – Where medical marijuana is legal, adults are more likely to use the drug illegally and are at an increased ris More »
The logo of Uber is seen on an iPad, during a news conference to announce Uber resumes ride-hailing service, in Taipei, Taiwan April 13, 2017. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu Uber’s popular ride-sharing network has repeatedly failed to promptly suspend and investigate its ... More »
Dr. Scott Gottlieb testifies before a Senate Health Education Labor and Pension Committee confirmation hearing on his nomination to be commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S. April 5, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Be... More »
By Ronnie Cohen(Reuters Health) – The drugstore chain Walgreens is taking a three-pronged approach to combat the public health crisis stemming from p More »
FILE PHOTO – A man injects himself with heroin using a needle obtained from the People’s Harm Reduction Alliance, the nation’s largest needle-exchange program, in Seattle, Washington April 30, 2015. REUTERS/David Ryder/File Photo Heroin use in the United State... More »
By Lisa Rapaport(Reuters Health) – College students who are struggling to keep up in class may want to lay off the alcohol and marijuana. A new study More »
Three neuroscientists won the world’s most valuable prize for brain research on Monday for pioneering work on the brain’s reward pathways – a system that is central to human and animal survival as well as disorders such as addiction and obesity. More »
FILE PHOTO: A worker harvests cannabis plants at a plantation near the northern town of Nazareth, Israel, May 28, 2013. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo The Israeli government voted on Sunday in favor of decriminalizing recreational marijuana use, joining some U.... More »
Bangladesh is to ban the import of the cold-medicine component pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in illicit methamphetamine production, anti-narcotics officials said, after purchases spiked in tandem with a boom in the illegal drug “ya ba”. More »
The number of deadly heroin overdoses in the United States more than quadrupled from 2010 to 2015, a federal agency said on Friday, as the price of the drug dropped and its potency increased. More »
People pack a glass bowl with marijuana during Hempfest’s 420Fest at the Luxe Nightclub in Seattle, Washington April 20, 2013. REUTERS/Nick Adams The administration of President Donald Trump may ramp up enforcement of federal laws against recreational marijuan... More »
By Ronnie Cohen(Reuters Health) – Every 25 minutes, a drug-addicted baby is born in the U.S. To try to protect the youngest victims of the na More »
By Lisa Rapaport(Reuters Health) – Drunk driving contributes to more than one in four motor vehicle fatalities for children, teens and young adults – More »
By Shereen Lehman(Reuters Health) – Drugs known as K2 or Spice, often sold as “safe” or “legal” versions of marijuana, are none of those things, a re More »
Scottish author Irvine Welsh poses for a photograph during an interview with Reuters ahead of the premiere of the film ‘T2 Trainspotting’ in Edinburgh January 22, 2017. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne Fans and stars braved freezing Scottish weather to flock to the prem... More »
By Ronnie Cohen(Reuters Health) – Addicts regularly use drugs on the streets of San Francisco, and some people there say giving addicts a safe, clean More »
By Lisa Rapaport(Reuters Health) – Playing team sports in high school may not influence whether or not teens use heroin or abuse prescription drugs, More »
By Gene Emery(Reuters Health) – Two of the largest suppliers of the life-saving drug naloxone have dramatically increased their prices in recent year More »
A bartender prepares a beer in a bar in central Sydney in this May 11, 2009 file photo. REUTERS/Daniel Munoz/Files By Madeline Kennedy(Reuters Health) – – Teens who drink heavily are more likely than their peers to have less gray matter, an important brain str... More »
Afghan men gather raw opium on a poppy field on the outskirts of Jalalabad in this April 28, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Parwiz The cultivation of opium poppy in Afghanistan, the world’s main source of heroin, has risen to its third-highest level in more than 20 ... More »
SACRAMENTO, Calif. Note to burglars — don’t fall asleep outside the place you just burglarized with your vehicle full of the loot. A pair of 17-year-olds in the Central California community of Winton were arrested and released to the custody of their parents o... More »
By Andrew M. Seaman More »
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama on Friday signed into law a measure that pledges greater efforts to protect drug-dependent newborns and assist their parents. The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act also stresses drug treatment and overdose prevention to... More »
LOS ANGELES Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Chaka Khan has postponed all performances for this month after checking herself into a drug addiction rehabilitation program, her representatives said in a message posted on her website. The 63-year-old vocalist... More »
Music legend Prince died one day before he was scheduled to meet a doctor who specializes in addiction treatment for a “life-saving mission,” the doctor’s lawyer said at a news conference on Wednesday. California doctor Howard Kornfeld was first contacted by P... More »
(Reuters Health) – Babies exposed to marijuana in the womb are likely to be born smaller than those not exposed, and more likely to need intensive care after birth, according to a new analysis of existing evidence. Mothers who smoke marijuana while pregnant ar... More »
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK A bill that aims to protect babies born to mothers who used heroin or other opioids during pregnancy was introduced on Wednesday in the House as part of the government’s response to a Reuters investigation. The bipartisan measure would requ... More »
WASHINGTON Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella and a Syrian refugee who now lives in Michigan will be among 23 special guests at President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union speech, the White House said on Sunday. Inviting Americans whose stor... More »
NAIROBI “I have lost a lot of people I knew to crime,” says George Kiru, nursing a drink at 2 in the morning in a bar on the edge of Nairobi’s Korogocho slum. Music blares as he lists childhood friends who joined gangs, many of them now dead or in jail. “Perso... More »
WASHINGTON Scientists have invented a speedy method to make potent painkilling opioids using bioengineered baker’s yeast instead of poppies, but need to fine-tune the process to make it commercially viable, according to a study published on Thursday. The new m... More »
VATICAN CITY Pope Francis will decide for himself if he chews coca leaves in order to ward off altitude sickness when he lands next week at La Paz, Bolivia, the highest international airport in the world, the Vatican said on Tuesday. A Bolivian minister said o... More »
