Olga Khazan May 15, 2017 It can sometimes seem strange how so much of the country got hooked on opioids within just a few years. Deaths from prescription drugs like oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone have more than quadrupled since 1999, according to the CDC. But pain doesn’t seem to be the only culprit: About one-third […]
Hep C rates climb in Tennessee amid opioid epidemic
Holly Fletcher May 11, 2017 Rural parts of Tennessee have been hit hard by a nationwide rise in Hepatitis C infections in pregnant women, likely a result of the opioid abuse epidemic, according to new study from Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Tennessee Department of Health. The presence of Hepatitis C at birth increased 89 […]
Thousands of pills collected during drug take-back day
Adam Tamburin April 29, 2017 Middle Tennesseans got rid of thousands of unused prescription pills Saturday when national, state and local agencies teamed up to host the National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. The bi-annual effort to dispose of controlled substances has taken on added significance in the shadow of a deadly epidemic of opioid abuse. […]
Highlighting National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day
Dr. Andrea Willis April 26, 2017 Prescription Drug Take-Back Day We see the impact of opioid abuse daily. We see it on the faces of family members and friends who are desperate to help their children struggling with addiction. We see it on the faces of co-workers who have lost family members to a drug […]
Tennessee To Receive $13.8 Million Aimed At Prescription Opioid Crisis
April 25, 2017 U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, M.D. has announced that the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services will be awarded $13.8 million through the 21st Century Cures Act to help combat the prescription opioid epidemic in Tennessee. This is the largest single federal funding increase for opioid […]
Tennessee’s plans to battle opioid abuse: nurses in recovery, naloxone kits
March 31, 2017 Kristi L. Nelson The state’s new weapons to fight the opioid addiction epidemic might be nurses who have been addicts themselves, and naloxone kits in the hands of those most likely to overdose. Oh, and $13.8 million from the Sen. Lamar Alexander-led 21st Century Cures Act. The Tennessee Department of Mental Health […]
Join Knoxville police chief at Tennessee opioid forum March 28
Last year 237 people died in Knox County of apparent drug overdoses. This year has started out just as bad with prospective overdose deaths happening about five times a week. Authorities are scrambling to find a solution. In 2015, Knoxville police started carrying Naloxone, which blocks the effects of the drugs on the respiratory and […]
Retired nurse couldn’t save own daughter from opioids
Dec. 19, 2016 Jessica Bliss Her daughter had nine broken ribs and had a blood clot that required surgery to remove it. So, when Judy Jenkins called about her upcoming visit, the two women made plans to take it easy, go out to eat and visit a spa to get their nails done. Fun, low-key mother-daughter […]
Tennessee needs millions more for opioid treatment, commissioner says
Although Tennessee has made progress on a number of levels in terms of fighting the ongoing opioid epidemic that is sweeping the nation, to really make an impact the state needs to invest in additional treatment, the commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services said Monday. “In this last year, […]
Opioid use overtakes tobacco
More adults in the U.S. use prescription painkillers than use tobacco, the latest milestone that highlights an opioid abuse epidemic sweeping the nation and particularly Tennessee, where there are more opioid prescriptions than people living in the state. A survey released in September by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that 37.8 […]
