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A new study published in the American Sociological Review found that introducing a prescription pain reliever into a home can double the chances of someone else living in the home seeking addictive drugs. Researchers also found that the chance a person gets an opioid prescription climbs between 19 percent and 100 percent when someone in the household already uses the drug. With this new information about familial influence, the authors suggest providing incentives to individuals who have unused prescription pills sitting in their medicinal cabinets, or allowing physicians to see familial member’s opioid prescriptions, as well as the individual’s prescriptions, in the prescription drug monitoring programs.
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New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that overdose deaths in urban areas began to exceed rates in rural America in 2016 for the first time in several years. While the epidemic was initially driven by opioid pain pills, which were widely available in both rural and city settings, many people with substance use disorders have shifted to heroin and fentanyl ― substances more readily available in urban settings. Dr. Daniel Ciccarone, a drug policy expert at the University of California, offers another explanation: rising overdose deaths among African Americans and Hispanics, especially those in urban areas, have contributed to higher overdose deaths in cities.
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The Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) is offering free medication disposal bags at the Indiana State Fair through Aug. 18. The agency has two booths in the Expo Hall that also feature information about different topics each day, from tobacco cessation and food safety to disease prevention and ways to prevent infant mortality. Stop by and show your support for public health in Indiana!
In an effort to end the stream of lawsuits against drug manufacturers, pharmacy chains and Fortune 20 companies, lawyers representing hundreds of cities and towns across the country have decided to come together to accept one large settlement that will be paid out to each community, after which no more lawsuits can be brought forth. However, a recent letter signed by 39 state attorneys general counters this agreement, arguing that state governments should be the recipients of the lawsuit payouts. The states intend for their proposal to be a correction to the Big Tobacco settlement, in which much of the reimbursement went to discretionary funds of state legislatures that were spent on non-prevention efforts.
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