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Heroin is a very addictive chemical called diacetylmorphine. Heroin is a modified form of morphine, a highly abundant opium derived from the seedpods of the poppy plant.

Urban hotspots of opioid abuse among high-schoolers revealed

A new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that in several cities and counties the proportion of high-schoolers who have ever used heroin or misused prescription opioids is much higher than the national average.

14 Nov 2019

Opioid overdose treatment: intranasal vs intramuscular naloxone

Opioid addiction and dependency have become a common plague in many countries of the world. Accompanying these conditions, opioid overdose is being increasingly encountered in many emergency settings. The standard and highly effective antidote for this is naloxone hydrochloride, an opioid antagonist which has been in use for over 4 decades.

13 Nov 2019

New tool could help detect smaller concentrations of drug powders

In 2017, more than 28,000 cases of fatal overdoses in the United States involved fentanyl. Just a pinch of the synthetic opioid, estimated to be 100 times stronger than morphine, can be lethal.

12 Nov 2019

Fingerprint sampling could help police distinguish between drug users and non-users

Researchers have developed a tool that can determine whether someone has used heroin, even if they have washed their hands.

11 Nov 2019

How Germany averted an opioid crisis

In 2016, 10 times as many Americans as Germans died as a result of drug overdoses, mostly opiates. Three times as many Americans as Germans experienced opioid addiction.

11 Nov 2019

High hepatitis C rates in Ohio linked to opioid misuse

In an effort to further measure the opioid epidemic's impact in Ohio, the Ohio Alliance for Innovation in Population Health studied hepatitis C rates within the state and discovered consistently high rates in the southern Appalachia region over a five-year period.

7 Nov 2019

Pioneering brain chip to fight opioid addiction: first US clinical test

Opioid addiction is among the biggest medical conditions troubling the U.S. today, and is far from reaching a solution. In 2017, it claimed almost 50 deaths per 100,000 in the state of West Virginia – the highest drug-overdose-related death rate in the US. Today, however, there is a gleam of hope from a new trial of an old technology to help fight this battle – a brain-embedded chip to counter opioid-induced cravings in treatment-refractory patients.

6 Nov 2019

New online course launched to help providers understand every facet of opioid crisis

Even if they never write a single prescription for an opioid painkiller, or care for someone who has overdosed on heroin or fentanyl, people who work in every area of American healthcare need to understand how the opioid epidemic is affecting their patients, their families and their communities, and how to prevent new cases of opioid addiction.

30 Oct 2019

Researchers are confronting opioid epidemic in multiple ways

With opioid drug overdose deaths skyrocketing in recent decades, researchers at Brown University's School of Public Health are confronting the epidemic in multiple ways.

30 Oct 2019

Researchers find 221% increase in opioid-related drug overdoses in Connecticut

Opioid overdose deaths in Connecticut doubled in the past six years, largely driven by use of multiple drugs together, according to a team of researchers from the University of Connecticut and Yale University.

29 Oct 2019

Sanford Burnham Prebys scientist receives $3.58 million to advance treatment for opioid-use disorders

The National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, awarded a $3.58 million grant to Sanford Burnham Prebys scientist Anthony Pinkerton, Ph.D., to advance a potential treatment for opioid-use disorders, called SBI-553.

23 Oct 2019

One in five patients prescribed opioids after cardiac device implantation surgery, study shows

One in five patients is prescribed opioids after having a pacemaker or similar device implanted, according to a large US study conducted at Mayo Clinic published in HeartRhythm, the official journal of the Heart Rhythm Society and the Cardiac Electrophysiology Society published by Elsevier.

21 Oct 2019

Training social workers to address and respond to the opioid epidemic

Nancy Ochoa was 15 years old the first time she used heroin with a group of friends. At 16, four months after the birth of her first child, her occasional drug use had turned into a "necessity."

17 Oct 2019

Overdose prevention should also focus on alcohol use, study suggests

For several years, the national spotlight has shone on the need to prevent and rapidly treat opioid overdoses. But a new study suggests a need for more focus on the risk of alcohol overdoses among people who use opioids of all kinds, as well as cocaine, marijuana and certain prescription drugs.

14 Oct 2019

Caution urged in reducing opioids for pain

After years and decades in which healthcare providers were freely prescribing opiates for all sorts of painful conditions, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published guidelines to help bring down opioid prescription rates and with them, addiction and overdose-related death rates. Though these were not binding, they urged physicians to be cautious in dealing with opioids when prescribing for pain.

13 Oct 2019

‘We Vape, We Vote’: How vaping crackdowns are politicizing vapers

Vapers across the country are swarming Twitter, the White House comment line and statehouse steps with the message "We Vape, We Vote."

10 Oct 2019

Study highlights role of drugs in alcohol poisoning and blackout events

Only one in five non-fatal alcohol overdoses results from use of alcohol alone, according to a study of patients in a large addiction treatment facility, with most alcohol overdoses involving concomitant use of other drugs.

9 Oct 2019

New analysis examines the darknet's opioid purchases

U.S. overdose deaths attributed to synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, have increased from under 3,000 in 2013 to nearly 20,000 in 2016, making up half of all opioid-related overdose deaths.

9 Oct 2019

McLean Hospital receives grant through NIH HEAL Initiative to address national opioid crisis

As part of its efforts to reverse the opioid crisis that continues to grip the nation, the National Institutes of Health has named McLean Hospital as a recipient of a grant through the Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative (NIH HEAL Initiative).

9 Oct 2019

NIH awards $945 million through NIH HEAL Initiative to reverse opioid crisis

To reverse the opioid crisis that continues to grip the nation, the National Institutes of Health has awarded $945 million in total fiscal year 2019 funding for grants, contracts and cooperative agreements across 41 states through the Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative or NIH HEAL Initiative.

26 Sep 2019