painkillers

As national distributors and pharmacies restricted the flow of painkillers in response to the opioid crisis, Florida’s most popular grocer did the opposite, according to a Tampa Bay Times data analysis.

The surgical drug is being prescribed as a psychedelic therapy for an array of unapproved uses, including depression and anxiety. Behind the trend are investors setting up for-profit clinics.

To contain the opioid crisis, agencies have turned to technology to monitor prescription data. Experts have raised questions about how these systems work and worry about their accuracy and potential biases.

New research calls into question prescribing the drugs even for short-term pain relief – especially given the risk of addiction.

In November, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines for prescribing opioids for pain, allowing physicians more flexibility. But doctors, patients, and advocates wonder if the updated standards will be too little, too late to help chronic pain patients in a country still focused on fighting the ongoing opioid crisis.

The DEA plans to reinstate once longstanding requirements that were waived once COVID hit, enabling doctors to write millions of prescriptions for drugs such as OxyContin or Adderall without meeting patients in person.

Doctors say they're increasingly concerned about the threat of violence, especially from patients seeking relief from pain.

COVID survivors are at risk from a possible second pandemic, this time of opioid addiction, given the high rate of painkillers being prescribed to these patients, health experts say.

With the deadly opioid fentanyl pushing overdose deaths to record levels, federal officials hope buprenorphine will save lives in parts of the country where the drug is rarely prescribed.

While the opioid problem in the U.S. is about too many opioids, in some countries there are few options for treating or controlling pain.