Drug Use Related Posts

By Tamarra Kemsley From Memphis to Bristol, Tennessee’s opioid crisis is increasingly fueled by fentanyl, a drug 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.1 This is according to multiple reports2 put out by the state’s department of health that warned against the misuse of the drug typically used to ease the suffering of patients with advanced cancer […]

White man in white shirt with hand on face

During the past decade, white Americans have been the driving force of the heroin epidemic that grips our nation.1 That’s according to an original investigation just published in JAMA Psychiatry. In the massive study of almost 80,000 respondents, heroin prevalence increased five-fold over an 11-year span, to about 1.61 percent of the American population. But […]

Every year, more than 1.5 million drug arrests are made in the United States. The majority of these arrests are specifically for drug possession, which is the crime of having one or more illegal drugs in possession for personal use, sale or distribution. Because of this serious problem, many areas are decriminalizing drugs such as […]

Painkillers in the NFL

When we think of sports and drug abuse, we typically think of performance-enhancing steroids—the kind notoriously used by cyclist Lance Armstrong or baseball players such as Mark McGuire or Barry Bonds. However, the rampant abuse of steroids seems to be taking a backburner to another drug problem in the athletic community–prescription opioid abuse. Once internally […]

Two studies published in JAMA Internal Medicine in June, while not without limitations, offer insight into the making of America’s opioid epidemic. The studies, an original investigation and a research letter, bring several disturbing, though not surprising, facts to light. The investigation by Harvard public health researchers examined new opioid prescriptions to Medicare recipients who […]

Man getting prescription pills

In a March 14, 2014 article titled “Overmedicated America,” American Spectator writer Daniel J. Flynn took a look at the frightening statistic from the Mayo Clinic that roughly seven in 10 Americans take a prescription drug, calling it “surely a symptom of a sick society,” and asking, “who will diagnose the diagnosticians?” More than a […]

United States flag and pills

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has released the findings from its annual survey on drug and alcohol use in the US. The report presents detailed results from the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), which is the primary source of information on the use of illicit drugs, alcohol, […]

While much of the current discussion around marijuana is related to legalization for recreational use, it’s important not to overlook the topic of medical marijuana. While Colorado and Washington State recently passed legislation making pot use legal for casual imbibers without a medical marijuana card, marijuana is already legal for medical purposes in 20 states […]