Prescription Opioid Abuse Key Indicator for Future Heroin Abuse
People who abuse prescription opioid painkillers are 40 times more likely to abuse heroin, reports the July edition of CDC Vital Signs. Researchers from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and FDA looked at the factors behind America’s heroin epidemic and found that prescription opioid abuse is the strongest risk factor for a heroin […]
Read More ›Colorado Allows Pharmacies to Dispense Naloxone Without a Prescription as Overdose Deaths Climb
Coming at a time when heroin and opioid overdoses are gripping the nation, a new Colorado law allows pharmacies to sell naloxone without a prescription. A number of states are allowing measures like Colorado’s to combat increasing overdose death rates associated with prescription opioid and heroin abuse. NABP’s AWARXE® Prescription Drug Safety Program is working to […]
Read More ›Pharmacies Could Volunteer to Add Locking Devices on Painkillers Under Illinois Bill
Illinois legislators passed a bill to create a pilot program that will give pharmacies the option of placing locking devices on some painkiller prescriptions to ensure only the patient has access to the medication. The bill, which is with Governor Bruce Rauner, calls on the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to run the […]
Read More ›NABP President Urges Pharmacists to Educate Colleagues, Community on Prescription Drug Abuse
NABP President Edward G. McGinley, MBA, RPh, urges fellow pharmacists to take the “Pharmacist Pledge to Make a Difference” in the battle against prescription drug abuse. McGinley introduced the pledge at the NABP 111th Annual Meeting in May 2015, calling on pharmacists to take an active role in educating colleagues and the community about the […]
Read More ›Pharmacy Robberies Still Climbing in Some States, Reports Drug Topics
During the first five months of 2015, Indiana has had 68 pharmacy robberies, the most out of any other state, reports Drug Topics. The online publication, geared toward pharmacists, used Drug Enforcement Administration data to compile a report of the 20 states hit hardest by pharmacy robberies. After Indiana follows Wisconsin, with 32 robberies so […]
Read More ›Physician Charged With Illegally Distributing Pain Medications Resulting in Five Fatalities, DEA Reports
Jaime Guerrero, a former medical physician with offices in Louisville, KY, and Jeffersonville, IN, has been indicted for knowingly distributing and dispensing Schedule II and III controlled substances to patients without a legitimate medical purpose. Further, Guerrero is charged with dispensing such medications to five patients who died as a result, according to a Drug […]
Read More ›Pennsylvania Governor Signs Law Allowing Pharmacists to Issue Flu Vaccinations to Some Children
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has signed into law a bill that will allow pharmacists to provide flu vaccinations to people age nine or older. House Bill 182 removes a stipulation from Pennsylvania law that limited administration of immunizations for school-age children to physicians only. The bill is intended to make it easier for children to […]
Read More ›Abuse-Deterrent Prescription Opioids Help Curtail Abuse Rates, But Still Vulnerable to Misuse, Cautions Report
Abuse-deterrent formulations of commonly abused prescription medications can sometimes still be misused cautions a new report. In fact, some experts have become concerned that the protective measures taken in abuse-deterrent formulations are “misunderstood and could mislead both users and prescribers into thinking that the underlying medications are less addictive,” an article in The New York […]
Read More ›Telemarketer Selling Foreign-Made Drugs Sentenced to Federal Prison
After pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to dispense prescription drugs without a prescription, Naresh Kumar Chintala has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. Chintala worked for an India-based company that marketed drugs to customers in the US through telemarketing. Chintala also made false claims that the drugs […]
Read More ›New York State Senate Passes Bill Intended to Prevent Prescription Drugs From Entering the Black Market
The New York State Senate has passed a bill that would establish criminal charges for the theft and unauthorized possession of blank official New York State prescription forms. Specifically, theft of blank prescription forms would be classified as grand larceny, a Class E felony; the possession of a stolen prescription form would be a Class […]
Read More ›