Evie Fordham on March 11, 2019 A judge gave a Kansas doctor life in federal prison Friday for his role in 32-year-old Nick McGovern’s opioid overdose death in 2015. Judge J. Thomas Marten told Dr. Steven Henson, 57, he seemed “numb to what you were doing over time” in illegally selling opioids to patients, including McGovern,…
LISTEN TO TLR’S LATEST PODCAST: By Steve Birr Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter is suing drug manufacturers in the U.S. for their alleged role in sparking the opioid epidemic through “fraudulent” advertising. Hunter launched the lawsuit Friday, following the lead of a growing number of states looking to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for allegedly spreading…
LISTEN TO TLR’S LATEST PODCAST: By Steve Birr The health care bill unveiled by Republicans in the U.S. Senate Thursday guts funding for drug and addiction treatment while mentioning the opioid crisis only once. The legislation allocates only $2 billion to fight drug addiction across the U.S. in fiscal year 2018, much less than some…
by Steve Birr Medical marijuana may be beneficial in aiding addiction treatment for alcohol abuse and opioid dependency, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC) studied the relationship between marijuana use and mental health and tested its interaction with different illnesses. The findings, published in Clinical Psychology Review, suggest marijuana…
by Eric Lieberman The pharmaceutical drug industry has spent exorbitant amounts of money lobbying against state laws aimed to restrict the amount of prescription opioids. The makers of prescription painkillers like OxyContin, Vicodin and fentanyl, spent $880 million on campaign contributions and lobbying initiatives from 2006 through 2015, according to the Associated Press and Center for Public…