Tag: prescription drug abuse
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Kentucky led the nation in hepatitis C cases in 2013; state’s rate rose 357 percent from 2007 to 2011
By Tim Mandell Kentucky Health News Kentucky had the nation’s highest rate of hepatitis C in 2013, with 5.1 cases per every 100,000 people, says a report by the federal Centers...
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Polling shows Kentucky ranks third in share of residents, 24.5 percent, who say they take mood-altering drugs every day
Kentucky is the place to be for mood-altering drugs. The state ranked third in a Gallup Organization study that asked 450 adults in each state how often they use drugs and...
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Poll shows more issues with heroin, fewer with pain pills
The latest Kentucky Health Issues Poll backs up law-enforcement opinion that Kentucky’s metropolitan areas are experiencing increased problems with heroin use as misuse of prescription pain relievers such as OxyContin, Vicodin,...
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Ky. ranks 8th in the number of high-prescribing Medicare physicians for powerful narcotic painkillers and stimulants
Kentucky ranks eighth in Medicare physicians who are considered “high prescribers” of Schedule 2 medications, drugs that have the highest potential for abuse like oxycodone, fentanyl, morphine and Ritalin, according...
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Deaths from drug overdoses and prescriptions for opiate treatment drugs are both rising, worrying state officials
Despite measures to discourage prescription drug abuse, Kentucky health officials report overdose deaths continue to rise and opioid treatment drugs are being prescribed “at alarming rates,” Kevin Wheatley reports for...
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Kentucky doctors treat an increasing number of babies suffering from drug addiction given to them by their mothers
Neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS, is becoming such a widespread problem that many medical professionals are calling it an epidemic and a public-health crisis. In 2001, 67 Kentucky babies were...
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Former pharmacist and county commissioner discusses his battle with addiction with Hopkinsville newspaper
Jeremy Bowles, a former pharmacist and county commissioner in Montgomery County, Tennessee, was convicted of drug and forgery charges, and now he’s discussing his experience to help others find freedom...
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Kentucky ranks No. 4 in painkiller prescriptions; neighboring states are first, second and third
Powerful painkillers are a contributing factor in the the rising rate of overdose deaths in the U.S., especially in Kentucky, where officials have recommended more measures be taken to monitor...
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Drug developed to treat addiction is being abused, so much that clinics have been opened to sell it
“Suboxone, a popular and highly touted medicine designed to get people off opioids such as painkillers and heroin, is increasingly being abused, sold on the streets and inappropriately prescribed, according...
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New rule allows Medicare to drop doctors for irresponsible prescribing
Medicare physicians who prescribe drugs in abusive ways can now be expelled by the federal government, Charles Ornstein reports for ProPublica. This increased oversight of Medicare Part D prescribers could help decrease...