Columbus, OH

Booneville, MS

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Prentiss County, MS

Mississippi News Group

Cairo, MS – May 5, 2024: The Prentiss County Sheriff's Department responded to a call on Wednesday concerning a woman found unconscious in a vehicle at the Dollar General in Cairo according toa press release from the PCSD.

Woman Found Passed Out at Dollar General Charged with Drug Possession Enhanced with Firearm

The Center Square

(The Center Square) – A leading medical group has called for decriminalizing personal use of a synthetic opioid used for treatment of opioid addiction without a prescription.
                The American Medical Association took a fresh stance on buprenorphine, a prescription synthetic opioid used to treat pain and opioid use disorders, during its annual meeting.
                The American Medical Association, a professional association and lobbying group for physicians and medical students, adopted the...

Medical group backs decriminalization of opioid for addiction treatment

Oregon State

Medford, OR

The Independent

An Oregon nurse has been arrested for allegedly using her patients’ pain medication and swapping it with tap water, risking “serious infections” in those she was meant to be looking after.Dani Marie Schofield faces 44 counts of assault in the second degree – each charge reflective of a patient “affected by Schofield’s criminal actions,” the Medford Police Department said in a statement.The intensive care unit nurse has been accused of diverting patients’ liquid fentanyl for personal use, and replacing it with unsterilized water, authorities said. The synthetic opioid is up to 100 times more potent than morphine.Schofield worked at Asante...

ICU nurse arrested for swapping patients’ pain medication with tap water

A two-drug combination may help reduce methamphetamine use for up to 12 weeks after starting treatment, according to a clinical trial led by researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. The study, published in the journal Addiction, found that participants who received injectable naltrexone plus extended-release oral...

Two-drug combination shows promise against meth use

While employers might expect there to be some cheating when it comes to workplace drug tests, the rate at which this is occurring has reached an all-time high. In the more than 30 years of annual reporting, the percentage of employees in the workplace whose drug test shows signs of tampering increased by more than six-fold in 2023, versus 2022.

Drug Test Cheating Is At Highest Rate Ever

Results from a national survey indicate that many Americans, 61%, are unaware that primary care physicians can prescribe medications for opioid use disorder, and 13% incorrectly believed that they could not. The survey, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), also found that 82% of the people who reported ever misusing prescription or illicit opioids expressed comfort in going to their primary care physicians for medications for opioid use disorder. Among those who had not misused opioids, a majority, 74%, reported they would be comfortable referring their loved ones to primary care for these medications.

Most Americans don’t know that primary care physicians can prescribe addiction treatment

NBC News

Another powerful animal tranquilizer has made its way into street drugs, added to illicit fentanyl and other opioids to prolong a user’s high. The drug, called medetomidine, is linked to a recent spate of deadly overdoses throughout the Midwest and Northeast. It dramatically slows down breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and decreases activity in the brain and spinal cord. It’s not meant for use in people.

A dangerous new animal sedative is making its way into the illegal drug supply

For more than two decades, a law has prohibited Medicare from paying for weight loss drugs, cutting off access to millions of potential patients who could stand to benefit. The ban has come into even sharper relief in recent years, with the Food and Drug Administration's approval of powerful but pricey drugs including Wegovy and Zepbound, which, without insurance coverage, are unaffordable to all but the wealthiest members of society.

House committee passes bill that would allow Medicare to cover weight loss drugs

The Biden administration said on Wednesday that Medicare enrollees will pay less for 64 prescription drugs available through Medicare Part B. The savings are part of a program established with the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022 and is meant to rein in drug price hikes — a key goal of the Biden Administration.

The Biden administration is lowering the price of 64 prescription drugs with inflation rebates

Peru, IN

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Logansport, IN

Kristy Tallman

Logansport, Ind. – The Indiana State Police (ISP) are seeking the public's assistance in locating 14-year-old Bryson Muir, who is believed to be missing and endangered. Investigators from ISP have recently communicated with Bryson's parents, Daniel and Kristen Muir. Despite their initial lack of cooperation, they have begun to show signs of willingness to assist in the investigation. However, Bryson has yet to be seen or located by ISP or the Cass County Department of Child Services (DCS).

UPDATE: Urgent Search Intensifies for Endangered 14-Year-Old Bryson Muir!

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This document corrects technical and typographical errors in the final rule that appeared in the May 10, 2024 Federal Register , entitled “Medicaid Program; Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services (referred to hereafter as the “Access final rule”). The effective date of the Access final rule is July 9, 2024.

Medicaid Program; Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services; Correction

California State

Alameda Post

California regulators just stopped AT&T from pulling the plug. California’s Public Utilities Commission on June 20 rejected AT&T’s application to stop providing landlines and other services in areas where there is no other option.

Still Need Your Landline?

UPI News

An experimental two-drug therapy has yielded promising results  to treat methamphetamine use disorder, UCLA researchers report.

Two-drug therapy shows promise in treating meth addiction

Georgia State

Douglas City, CA

Daily Coffee Press

This afternoon, Kentaiwon Durham, the Douglas City Commissioner of Ward 2, entered a guilty plea for wire fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. Consequently, Durham is mandated to resign from his position as a city commissioner.

Georgia City Commissioner Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud in $20K PPP Fraud Scheme

(NewsNation) — The mother of a U.S. Army soldier who died from an accidental overdose after taking a pain pill laced with fentanyl is demanding the military provide her granddaughters with owed survivor benefits nearly a year after the tragedy. Shannon Laudermilk’s daughter, Holly Eakins, joined the Army at...

Veteran daughter dies from fentanyl after treatment delays: Mom

After surgery, Christopher Wolf went home with a big bottle of Oxycontin. He overdosed from heroin 14 years later. His mom Cammie Wolf Rice now works to train pain coaches for patients. About Cammie Wolf Rice. Cammie Wolf Rice is an addiction prevention activist and former financial services tech executive....

How one mom is fighting the opioid crisis by asking hospitals to provide pain coaches

Municipal landfills across the U.S. may be burping breathable “forever chemicals” into the air, a new study shows. Researchers studied emissions from municipal solid waste landfills, finding that chemical-laden gas was released when trash containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, decayed. PFAS is used in...

The Watch: June 27, 2024

Los Angeles, CA

San Rafael, CA

Done Global, a San Francisco-based startup that became popular for its online Adderall subscription service, saw its executives arrested in Los Angeles and San Rafael, California. As reported by BBC, Ruthia He, CEO of telehealth company Done Global, and clinical president David Brody orchestrated a $100 million scheme to fraudulently...

Telehealth Executives Arrested After Illegally Distributing 40 Million Adderall Pills and Other Addictive Drugs

Coffee County, GA

Over the last few weeks, several individuals appeared before Judge Dwayne Gillis and entered guilty pleas on felony charges in the Superior Court of Coffee County. The majority of the defendants received probation, while some will soon be transported to a Georgia prison to serve their sentences. Among the twenty-one cases, ten of the defendants faced felony drug charges.

More than 20 Individuals Plead Guilty and Sentenced on Felony Charges in Coffee County

Poet Alicia Cook courageously shares her story of mental health, substance use, and grief. DHHS reports that 1.6 million people had an opioid use disorder in the last year. Research shows that people with mental health issues are at risk for nonmedical use of opioids. Over half of adults do...

A Poet’s Perspective on Mental Health and Substance Abuse

NewsBreak

Medicaid ‘Unwinding’ Can Be Dangerous for Those Who Need Opioid Addiction Medications

More than 1 million Americans use Medicaid to help pay for lifesaving opioid addiction treatment, including methadone. But some have lost coverage as states redetermine...

Medicaid ‘Unwinding’ Can Be Dangerous for Those Who Need Opioid Addiction Medications

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