October 6, 2017 Elizabeth Fite Members of the U.S. Senate Health Committee heard Thursday that more research will be needed if they are to combat the nation’s opioid addiction crisis. “Addiction is a powerful force, driven by the powerful ways in which opioids literally can rewire the brain,” said National Institutes of Health Director Dr. […]
Tennessee overdose deaths jump 12% in 2016, as opioid crisis rages
September 18, 2017 Holly Fletcher The number of Tennesseans who died from drug overdoses spiked 12 percent from 2015 to 2016, largely due to growing use of opioid fentanyl. There were at least 1,631 Tennesseans who died in 2016 — up from 1,451 in 2015, according to the Tennessee Department of Health. The number of […]
Haslam: Non-cancer patients could see limits on long-term opioid scripts
July 10, 2017 Any Sher NASHVILLE — As he seeks remedies for Tennessee’s opioid abuse epidemic, Gov. Bill Haslam says his administration will explore whether to restrict long-term prescriptions of the powerful and addictive painkillers for many TennCare patients. “Should we ever be long-term prescribing opioids in TennCare in a non-cancer situation? That’s a question […]
Drug crisis is pushing up death rates for almost all groups of Americans
June 9, 2017 Joel Achenbach and Dan Keating The opioid epidemic that has ravaged life expectancy among economically stressed white Americans is taking a rising toll among blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans, driving up the overall rate of death among Americans in the prime of their lives. Since the beginning of this decade, death rates […]
State overdose data sheds new light on opioid crisis
Holly Fletcher, Kristi L. Nelson and Anita Wadhwani May 24, 2017 A new report from the Tennessee Department of Health on drug overdose deaths sheds new light on the opioid epidemic plaguing the state, darkening the lines of an emerging portrait of the typical abuser killed by the powerful painkillers. The drug overdose fatalities are overwhelmingly […]
Opioid Addiction: Why It’s An Epidemic
When people hear the word “epidemic,” they often think of smallpox or the flu. In reality, the word can apply to anything affecting a disproportionately large number of individuals within a population, community or region at the same time. With that in mind, let’s break down that definition and apply it to opioid addiction. There […]
