prescription painkillers

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Painkiller Sales Exploding in New Parts of US

Pharmacies sold equivalent of 69 tons of pure oxycodone in 2010

(Newser) - Prescription painkiller addiction is a problem that's only getting uglier, reports the AP after analyzing a slew of DEA and pharmaceutical figures. The report focuses on sales of America's leading two prescription painkillers: oxycodone (the key ingredient in OxyContin, Percocet, and Percodan) and hydrocodone (Vicodin, Norco, and Lortab)....

Abuse Experts Tremble Over Powerful New Painkillers

Drugs with hydrocodone may cause more addiction

(Newser) - A more powerful version of America's second-most abused medicine is likely headed for a doctor's office near you, the AP reports. Four companies are in the patient-testing phase of painkillers that will be up to 10 times more effective than Vicodin thanks to a highly addictive ingredient called...

No. 1 Cause of Overdose Deaths: Painkillers

Topping heroin, cocaine combined

(Newser) - Are prescription drugs more dangerous than their illegal counterparts? In 2008, prescription painkiller overdoses outnumbered deaths from heroin and cocaine combined, according to a new CDC report. Of the 36,450 US overdose deaths that year, 14,800 involved opioid painkillers like oxycodone, methadone, or hydrocodone. That’s a significant...

Most Addicts Get Pills From Pals

Doctors only give pills to 1 in 5 abusers: Study

(Newser) - Looks like Michael Jackson was the exception to the rule. Most painkiller addicts get their pills from family or friends rather than doctors, according to a new study. Just 1 in 5 abusers use their doctor as their primary source for their drugs, and 69% get their drugs exclusively from...

Ukraine Cancer Patients Deprived of Painkillers

WHO calls for end to country's strict limits

(Newser) - Rules tied to the Soviet era have left Ukraine with some of the world’s toughest painkiller laws—restrictions so broad that some cancer patients have attempted suicide to escape the pain, the AP reports. Morphine, for example, isn’t available in tablet form, and patients are limited to 50...

NYC Busts Drug-Dealing Ice Cream Truck

Oxycodone sellers licked

(Newser) - In New York City's Staten Island, oxycodone addicts were more enthusiastic than little kids about the arrival of the Lickety Split ice cream truck: Some 31 people have been indicted for running a drug ring that investigators say used the ice cream truck to sell the addictive prescription painkiller—and...

FDA Pulls Darvon, Darvocet
FDA Pulls Darvon, Darvocet
Nov 19, 2010 6:05 PM CST

FDA Pulls Darvon, Darvocet

Popular painkillers cause abnormal heart rhythms

(Newser) - The painkillers Darvon and Darvocet are being pulled off the prescription drug market because they can trigger potentially fatal heart rhythm abnormalities, CNN reports. The FDA requested that the drug behind both popular brands, propoxyphene, be yanked after a trial study found the side effect. "The drug's effectiveness in...

Enquirer: Tiger Hooked on Drugs, Too
 Enquirer: 
 Tiger Hooked 
 on Drugs, Too 

also, gatorade cuts ties
Feb 26, 2010 4:36 PM CST

Enquirer: Tiger Hooked on Drugs, Too

Woods returned to rehab for substance abuse, not sex addiction: tab

(Newser) - Tiger Woods isn't just a great golfer and a sex addict—he's a drug addict, too, according to the National Enquirer . Woods "blamed a lot of his cheating behavior on his drug addiction, saying that the drugs were responsible for impairing his judgment," but wife Elin Nordegren isn't...

Suit Wants Pharmacies to Bust Drug Abusers

Lawsuit blames stores for zonked driver's accident

(Newser) - When a driver, high on painkillers, ran her car into two guys fixing a flat tire on the side of the highway, killing one of them, the victims' families filed a lawsuit—against the pharmacies that sold the painkillers. That case, pending before the Nevada Supreme Court, will be the...

Big Brother Winner Nabbed for Peddling Oxy

Jasinski says he used $500K prize to buy, sell painkillers

(Newser) - Big Brother 9 winner Adam Jasinski made his first court appearance today in Massachusetts after being charged with trying to sell 2,000 prescription painkiller pills. After a brief struggle with agents, the DEA says Jasinski waived his Miranda rights and confessed to using his $500,000 winnings from the...

BBC Journo Stuns Brown with Pill-Popping Question

Labor furious after interviewer follows up Internet rumors

(Newser) - Gordon Brown's office and the British Labor Party are furious with the BBC after the host of the channel's flagship political program asked the prime minister if he took prescription painkillers. Downing Street had already denied the rumor, which began on the Internet. A shocked Brown responded: "No! I...

Anna Nicole Had Lesbian Affair With Drug-Happy Shrink

Pharmacists refused to fill drug cocktail order for Smith doc Khristine Eroshevich

(Newser) - Newly unsealed documents in the Anna Nicole Smith investigation reveal the Playmate had a lesbian tryst with her psychiatrist, Khristine Eroshevich—the same psychiatrist who ordered a drug cocktail so dangerous that one pharmacist who refused to fill the order called it “pharmaceutical suicide,” the Los Angeles Times...

DJ AM Spent Last Day on Crack, Pills

Adam Goldstein's apartment littered with drugs; he promised to start rehab

(Newser) - DJ AM lit up a crack pipe in front of his recovery sponsor the day before his death, the New York Post reports in an ongoing effort to piece together his final moments. Friends told investigators Adam Goldstein’s manager and sponsor flew from the West Coast to NYC Thursday...

Jacko Doc Disputes Cops' Timeline

Plus, more dirt on yet another Jacko doc

(Newser) - As a timeline of Michael Jackson’s final hours began to emerge, Dr. Conrad Murray’s lawyer was was quick to question it, calling it “police theory” in a statement yesterday, the AP reports. “Dr. Murray simply never told investigators that he found Michael Jackson at 11am not...

Jacko Doc Writes 'Dear Barack' Letter

(Newser) - A British doctor friend of Michael Jackson fired off a letter to President Obama—or "Barack," as she calls him—pleading for tougher laws for "unethical doctors" who ply patients with drugs. Dr. Susan Etok, who says she turned down more than $800,000 from the King...

Jackson 'Self-Harmed' to Get Drugs

Singer was spending $50K a month on prescriptions

(Newser) - Toward the end of his life Michael Jackson was so desperate for prescription drugs, sources tell investigators he harmed himself in an effort to get more, the Mirror reports. Jackson was reportedly spending nearly $50,000 a month on drugs including Vicodin, Soma, Xanax, Zoloft, Paxil, and Prilosec, and he...

Cops Remove Drugs From Jackson Home

(Newser) - Los Angeles police and officials from the county coroner's office have removed bags of prescription drugs and medical material from Michael Jackson's home, and are interviewing doctors who prescribed the medications, reports the Los Angeles Times. It's not yet known if the drugs played a role in Jackson's heart attack...

Jackson Drug Cocktail: 3 Painkillers, 2 Anti-Depressants

Star was on powerful mix of narcotics, painkillers

(Newser) - The Sun gets the details on the potentially lethal cocktail of prescription drugs Michael Jackson was on in the months before his death. Jackson took addictive narcotic painkillers Demerol and Diluadid daily, the Sun's sources say, and had recently added Vicodin to the mix. He also took a muscle relaxant...

Abdul Reveals Painkiller Addiction

American Idol judge turned to meds after dancing injuries

(Newser) - Paula Abdul tells the Ladies' Home Journal she was addicted to heavy-duty painkillers for 12 years until she kicked the habit last November. Abdul insists, however, that she never shot an American Idol episode while under the influence. The 46-year-old turned to prescription meds—which made her act "weird"...

Levi's Mom Admits Pill Addiction: 'I'm Still in Pain'

Sherry Johnston, grandmother to Bristol Palin's newborn son, spills on OxyContin

(Newser) - Sarah Palin’s fellow grandmother says she’s getting a bad rap in the press over her recent drug arrest. Sherry Johnston—mother of Levi, who recently fathered a son with Bristol Palin—tells People she has been addicted to OxyContin since a hysterectomy 8 years ago. “I was...

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