Boston Globe OP-ED on NARCAN: FEW DEATHS from heroin overdose happen alone. A friend or relative is often standing… read more...
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Boston Globe OP-ED on NARCAN
Boston Globe OP-ED on NARCAN: FEW DEATHS from heroin overdose happen alone. A friend or relative is often standing by helplessly as a victim’s skin turns blue, their pulse slows, and breathing stops. In 2008, 594 people died from accidental overdoses of heroin and other opioid drugs in Massachusetts. That’s why a promising state pilot program that gets a life-saving overdose-reversal drug called naloxone into the hands of friends and relatives of opioid addicts should be expanded to more communities.....
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BOSTON OVERDOSE VIGIL / Wednesday, August 31st / 7:00PM – 9:00PM
BOSTON OVERDOSE VIGIL / Wednesday, August 31st / 7:00PM – 9:00PM
Join us for the
Boston Overdose Vigil
August 31st, 2011
7pm—9pm
At Copley Square – Dartmouth Street Side
Remember those we have lost to overdose, recognize those still in the struggle, and learn how we can prevent overdose.
■Get Narcan and learn how to use it to save someone’s life
■Find out how to recognize signs of overdose
■Learn lifesaving steps to reverse an overdose
■Hear how the 911 Good Samaritan Bill could save lives
Senate Bill Would Require Doctor Training to Fight Prescription Drug Abuse
A bill co-sponsored by Senator Chuck Schumer (NY) and Jay Rockefeller (WV) would require doctors to receive training for prescribing opiate-based narcotics...
Read more:
NFL Players: Injury, Pain, and Opioid Misuse
A new study performed by researchers at the Washington University in St. Louis has found that players retired from the National Football League (NFL) are far more likely than the general population to use and misuse opioid painkillers, the L.A. Times reported Jan. 28.
Read the rest here: http://www.jointogether.org/news/research/summaries/2011/opioid-abuse-in-retired-nfl.html
Physician Substance Abuse “Inadequate,” Experts Say
According to educators at Yale School of Medicine and other U.S. medical schools, doctors-to-be require a lot more training to address substance abuse than they currently receive, HealthCanal.com reported Jan. 6.
Substance use disorders are at the root of a staggering array of medical, behavioral, and social problems, said the authors. In the U.S. alone, drug and alcohol abuse caused more than 100,000 deaths and cost the country more than $300 billion annually.
"Despite the fact that the substance use is responsible for an enormous burden of disease in their patients, and evidence-based screening approaches have been developed, physicians often fail to identify and treat substance abuse routinely," said Patrick O'Connor, M.D., chief of the Section of General Internal Medicine at Yale and lead author of the paper.
"This may result not only in ongoing substance use and its complications, but also in inadequate treatment of the medical conditions for which their patients are being seen."
O'Connor and his colleagues made the following recommendations to address the training deficit:
- raise the priority for substance abuse education (give it the same importance as training for other chronic diseases);
- enhance faculty development (accrediting organizations should require faculty expertise in addiction medicine);
- provide organizational infrastructure (put specific faculty and departments in charge of substance abuse education -- preferably, a multidisciplinary team);
- integrate core competencies into resident training (epidemiology, screening, assessment, intervention, and pharmacological management); and
- make substance abuse screening and management routine in primary care.
"Creating an educational environment that fully integrates and adequately prioritizes substance abuse competencies into residency education, as well as in medical school itself, is critical to assuring that physicians are armed with the tools to provide adequate evidence-based care to their patients," he said.
"Programs … must take responsibility for assuring that trainees have adequate curricular time and resources along with suitably trained core faculty to support this critical educational effort."
http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2011/physician-substance-abuse.html
Massachusetts Expands Prescription Drug Tracking, will check more I.D.s
A Massachusetts program requiring patients to show photo IDs when they pick up prescriptions has been expanded to help prevent abuse, overdoses, and contain costs, The Boston Globe reported Jan. 1...
Read more here: http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2011/mass-prescription-tracking.html
MA Senate President Therese Murray names debt control, opiate crisis as priorities
MURRAY NAMES DEBT CONTROL, OPIATE “CRISIS” AS PRIORITIES
By Kyle Cheney
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JAN. 5, 2011…..Easily reelected to her second full term as Senate president, Sen. Therese Murray foreshadowed Wednesday a push to control state debt and to act on “the overdue need to restructure our state finance laws” in her first address to a newly constituted state Senate.
Murray, who on Thursday will become the first woman in Massachusetts history to swear in the governor, identified health care cost control, small business growth and efficient government as her principal goals for the upcoming session, according to her prepared remarks.
“We can and must do more to retain and grow our existing businesses as well as attract new investors, industry and jobs from across the world,” she said, noting that Massachusetts accounted for 9.4 percent of the nation’s job growth over the past year, despite constituting just 2.4 percent of the population.
Murray devoted a lengthy portion of her speech to what she described as “the growing crisis of opiate addiction that is fueling crime sprees and ruining the lives of families all over the state.” Noting that a new opiate prescription tracking system took effect this month, Murray said she expects an effort to combat addiction.
“Our jails and prisons are overwhelmed,” she said. “And those addicted to opiates are frequently not getting the proper treatment to kick the habit. We can – we must – do a better job of focusing on this crisis.”
Murray, who survived a close election and challenge from Republican Tom Keyes last year, talked up the state’s education record and emphasized the University of Massachusetts’s strengths in management, public policy, engineering, marine biology and medicine.
“We need to give these institutions the tools they need to build on their strengths and successes and continue to lead,” she said.
She also estimated that government is facing a $1.5 billion to $2 billion budget gap in the fiscal year that begins in July.
“That means more difficult decisions and program reductions will be necessary,” she said.
Gov. Deval Patrick has said he plans to offer no new taxes in the budget he will file this month, and House Speaker Robert DeLeo has said he does not favor new taxes this year. Murray, who made “reform before revenue” her mantra in the last session, made no mention of taxes in her remarks.
Murray’s speech also included no mention of gambling, which failed dramatically at the end of last session and consumed months of the Legislature’s time.
Murray also alluded to some of the scandals that have rocked Beacon Hill and eroded public trust in government.
“Little attention will be paid to the good work you do. There is much greater intrigue in the rumors and shadows that surround this building,” she said. “But we still can shine a light by our actions.”
She added that voters have placed trust in their lawmakers “to serve and not be served.”
With eight new senators sworn in and a series of veteran senators departed, including former Ways and Means Chairman Steven Panagiotakos, Murray has a series of high profile appointments to make in the new term. She was nominated for reelection Wednesday by Sen. Jack Hart and Sen. Jennifer Flanagan.
Ticking off a list of what she described as the Legislature’s accomplishments over the previous two years, Murray said she looked forward to working with House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Gov. Deval Patrick “as we take on new challenges and expand our efforts on some familiar issues.”
She noted that the Senate passed 2,000 bills last session, and at least 600 have since become law.
Among them transportation, pension and ethics law overhauls; a ban on texting while driving, a proposal to encourage the establishment of more charter schools, and legislation aimed at curbing health care costs for small businesses, cutting taxes for startup companies, preventing foreclosures, restructuring criminal recordkeeping laws and preventing bullying in schools.
Murray also promised a bipartisan atmosphere in the Senate.
“Regardless of whether you have a “D” or an “R” after your name, we all represent the people of the Commonwealth, and they are our priority,” she said.
Sen. Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) was elected minority leader Wednesday, succeeding Sen. Richard Tisei, who lost his bid last year to become lieutenant governor. Tarr will head a four-member caucus.
Move to Restrict Painkillers Puts Onus on Doctors
In an unusual move, a state government is developing regulations meant to stop doctors from prescribing higher doses of powerful — and often dangerous — pain killers for patients who are not benefiting from them.
The effort, in Washington State, represents the most sweeping attempt yet to stem what some experts see as the excessive use of prescribed narcotics, and it is being closely watched by medical professionals elsewhere. Among other things, Washington would apparently become the first state to require a doctor to refer patients on escalating doses of pain killers for evaluation if they were not improving.
Read more here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/business/29pain.html?hp
NECN Feature on Prescription Drug Take-Back Day
NECN ran a feature on Prescription Drug Take-Back day efforts. Click to watch: http://www.necn.com/09/24/10/Prescription-drug-take-back-weekend-begi/landing_health.html?blockID=317857&feedID=4210
National Drug Take-Back Initiative on September 25th, 2010
On September 25, 2010, DEA will coordinate a collaborative effort with state and local law enforcement agencies to remove potentially dangerous controlled substances from our nation’s medicine cabinets. Collection activities will take place from 10:00 a.m. through 2:00 p.m. at sites established throughout the country. The National Take-Back Day provides an opportunity for the public to surrender expired, unwanted, or unused pharmaceutical controlled substances and other medications for destruction. These drugs are a potential source of supply for illegal use and an unacceptable risk to public health and safety.
This one-day effort is intended to bring national focus to the issue of increasing pharmaceutical controlled substance abuse.
- The program is anonymous.
- Prescription and over the counter solid dosage medications, i.e. tablets and capsules accepted.
- Intra-venous solutions, injectables, and needles will not be accepted.
- Illicit substances such as marijuana or methamphetamine are not a part of this initiative.
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