Drug Overdose

From 2017 to 2018, the rate of all drug overdose deaths decreased 4.1%, prescription opioid-involved overdose deaths decreased 13.5% and heroin deaths dropped 4%, according to the CDC. However, agency also reported that deaths involving synthetic opioids, excluding methadone, increased by 10% during that same period.

Individuals with opioid use disorder who were treated with opioid agonists had an 80% lower risk for opioid overdose death than those who did not receive medications during treatment, according to findings of a retrospective cohort study published in Addiction.

In 2018, American life expectancy increased for the first time in 4 years, data show. Also in 2018, fewer Americans died of drug overdoses than the year before for the first time in more than 20 years.

The CDC’s Multiple Cause of Death database underestimated the number of drug overdose deaths that occurred in the state of Florida over a recent 14-year period, according to recent study data.

Risk for overdose and acute care service use were significant following buprenorphine discontinuation regardless of treatment duration, according to results of a retrospective longitudinal cohort analysis published in American Journal of Psychiatry.

WASHINGTON — Physicians from across the country spoke about their hospitals’ experiences and approaches to combating the opioid epidemic at a panel at the U.S. News & World Report Annual Healthcare of Tomorrow Conference.

Synthetic opioids like fentanyl “kill on a scale that is unprecedented among illegal drugs,” according to a new report conducted by the RAND Corporation.

Judge Thad H. Balkman of the Cleveland County District Court in Oklahoma ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay the state more than $572 million in damages for its role in the opioid epidemic.

In 2016, Americans spent $145 billion on cannabis, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine, according to a new report.