FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — After years of setbacks, medical marijuana advocates in Kentucky gained momentum Wednesday when a House committee overwhelmingly approved a bill to legalize medical...
U.S. health officials again warned doctors Thursday against abandoning chronic pain patients by abruptly stopping their opioid prescriptions.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services...
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A group of inmates is suing the New York state prison system over its efforts to crack down on prescription drug abuse, saying they are being forced to live with chronic pain...
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson was a "kingpin" company that helped fuel the most devastating public health crisis in Oklahoma history, the state attorney general...
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — At his darkest point, Bryan Fant was addicted to vicodin, benzodiazepine, prozac, Xanax and various other powerful medications. All had been prescribed by the Veterans...
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health officials Tuesday warned doctors not to abruptly stop prescribing opioid painkillers to patients who are taking them for chronic pain ailments, such as...
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A bill to legalize medical marijuana in Kentucky won initial committee approval Wednesday night after lawmakers heard emotional testimony from people battling chronic pain...
Chronic pain is the most common reason people give when they enroll in state-approved medical marijuana programs.
That's followed by stiffness from multiple sclerosis and chemotherapy-related nausea, according to an analysis of 15 states published Monday in the journal Health Affairs.
Five-time Olympic champion Missy Franklin is retiring from swimming at age 23, citing chronic shoulder pain that has affected her for the last 2½ years.
She announced her plans Wednesday in a letter posted on ESPN.com . Franklin's spokeswoman says the swimmer is with her family in Colorado for the holidays and isn't commenting further for now.
LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) — For more than 10 years, Shannon Greenwood took 16 opioid pills a day for her chronic pain. But over the last eight years, the 59-year-old Longview resident has cut the daily dose to two.
"It was a long, hard road," Greenwood said. "I was going up and down like a roller coaster, and it just ruins your life. You don't have the ability to do what you used to do, and you don't want to run out of feeling good before you do all your duties for the day."
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Doctors prescribing painkillers to patients with chronic pain should be required to also provide them with prescriptions for anti-overdose drugs, several people and organizations told the state medical board as it reviews ways to slow the opioid crisis.
Under current rules, doctors must prescribe opioids like Vicodin or Percocet for chronic pain in a way that prevents the drugs' misuse. But those rules don't spell out safety steps doctors should take as doses increase.
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Dr. Kenneth Choquette knows the kind of chronic pain his patients endure every day. Without opioid pills, some cannot work, sleep or do simple chores like wash the dishes.
"If I take pain medication away from a patient who is properly taking it for the right reasons, it means they hurt more," said Choquette, a Coordinated Health pain management specialist and a physician for three decades.
"So, are they dependent on the medication?" he said. "Absolutely."
CHICAGO (AP) — A yearlong study offers rigorous new evidence against using prescription opioids for chronic pain.
In patients with stubborn back aches or hip or knee arthritis, opioids worked no better than over-the-counter drugs or other nonopioids at reducing problems with walking or sleeping. And they provided slightly less pain relief,
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Will Michele Jacobovitz get out of bed today?
That depends on how many painkillers she has left in her monthly prescription, which sometimes she's forced to ration. Some mornings are harder than others.
Jacobovitz, 56, has suffered from chronic pain since a 1987 car accident. The Pasco County resident has had 73 surgeries since, from her neck to her ankles, and she has the scars to prove it. In December, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
NEW YORK (AP) — The maker of the powerful painkiller OxyContin said it will stop marketing opioid drugs to doctors, bowing to a key demand of lawsuits that blame the company for helping trigger the current drug abuse epidemic.
OxyContin has long been the world's top-selling opioid painkiller, bringing in billions in sales for privately-held Purdue, which also sells a newer and longer-lasting opioid drug called Hysingla.
PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Legislature unanimously approved Gov. Doug Ducey's proposal to crack down on excess opioid prescribing and add other regulations designed to cut down on addictions and overdose deaths.
Thursday's action came despite a number of majority Republican lawmakers who had expressed deep concerns about parts of the proposal. The Republican governor was expected to sign it Friday.
PHOENIX (AP) — No major opposition appeared Tuesday as the Arizona Legislature began considering a proposal from Gov. Doug Ducey designed to cut down on addiction and deaths from prescription painkillers.
A House committee took up the proposal during a special legislative session called by the Republican governor the previous day.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Could there be a second life for the once-popular arthritis pill Vioxx? A startup pharmaceutical company hopes so.
Merck & Co. voluntarily pulled the blockbuster drug in 2004 amid evidence that it doubled the chances of having a heart attack or stroke.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The Latest on the possible return of Vioxx (all times local):
10:30 a.m.
Could the once-popular arthritis pill Vioxx (VEYE-ochs) get a second life? A startup pharmaceutical company hopes so.
In 2004, Merck & Co. voluntarily pulled the blockbuster drug amid evidence it doubled the chances of having a heart attack or stroke.