Tag: prescription drug abuse
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‘Pill mills’ proliferating in Ky.; legislators plan countermeasures
Suspected “pill mills” that feed Kentucky’s “epidemic of prescription-drug abuse” have proliferated in the last two years, and “not just in Eastern Kentucky, where the problem was once most prominent,”...
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Beshear appoints panel to identify docs with suspicious prescribing practices
Gov. Steve Beshear has appointed a panel that will help identify the state’s health providers who are prescribing a suspicious amount of pain pills. The move is to help combat...
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Prescription drug abuse is an epidemic nationwide and in Ky.
Prescription pain medicine overdoses now kill more people in the U.S. than heroin and cocaine combined, with 40 Americans dying every day from painkiller abuse. “This stems from a few...
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Former official: DEA failed to slow prescription drug abuse epidemic by not limiting production
At a time when Oxycontin abuse was rapidly increasing, the Drug Enforcement Agency had the power to slow production of the drug and perhaps stave off what is now a...
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New Florida laws helping stem flow of pills, but loopholes remain and trade is shifting to other states
Though pill mills continue to be a big problem in Florida, where lax laws have fueled Kentucky’s prescription pill trade, there is evidence that the tides are slowly turning in...
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Despite new laws, Florida still fuels ‘pill pipeline’ to Kentucky
If you thought Florida’s recent moves to stop the “pill pipeline” to Kentucky have worked, think again. “Cash-only clinics continue to operate throughout the Sunshine State, with doctors indiscriminately doling...
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Nurse practitioners endorse new plan to fight prescription drug abuse, ask to be on board that will recommend standards
UPDATE, Oct. 14: Gov. Steve Beshear’s executive order did not create a slot for advance-practice registered nurses on the advisory council, which will have representatives appointed by Beshear and nominated...
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State officials step up efforts against prescription drug abuse, targeting doctors
By Tara Kaprowy and Al Cross Kentucky Health News LEXINGTON — Targeting what Gov. Steve Beshear called “drug dealers in white coats” is the goal of a new effort against...
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Ky., Ohio, Tenn. and W.Va. join forces to fight prescription-drug abuse amid questions about use of Ky. system
Kentucky has formed a partnership with Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia to help fight prescription drug abuse, “even as questions linger over how well the state has used its own electronic monitoring...
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Stumbo asks for records pertaining to pain pill tracking efforts; Herald-Leader supports move
Update, Aug. 29: The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure may not be tracking the prescribing practices of the state’s doctors, but that’s because it can’t, asserts a past president of...