In August 2019, Cleveland County Judge Thad Balkman ordered Johnson & Johnson and their subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals to pay Oklahoma $572 million for the harm their products cause. When the settlement is paid, what will the benefits actually be?...
This new book, American Fix: Inside the Opioid Addiction Crisis and How to End It, addresses reasons for the hundreds of thousands of lives lost and the tough decisions that must be made to stop the carnage. It is an important book for anyone who wishes...
There’s something special and even a little energizing when the bad guy finally gets caught. When the underdog hero somehow manages to win against insurmountable odds.
The drug problem is no longer a “big city“ problem—it's in every city across the US. How did this happen? Growing up in rural, farmland Michigan, I would never have thought that drug addiction would become a problem for those of us accustomed to...
When we think of how young people are exposed to opiate drugs, what is the first thing we think of? Probably the most likely answer is “peer pressure.“ And not without good reason.
The health and well-being of our young people is something to safeguard. Our youth of today are our leaders of tomorrow. An investment in their future is really an investment in ours, too. As parents, we want our kids to grow up to lead successful, happy,...
A headline in U.S. News caught my eye. It read, “Teens’ Opioid Abuse May Be Gateway to Heroin.” Written by U.S. News contributor Robert Preidt, the article talks about how one type of drug use can lead to another type of drug use.
We look to our doctors for help in improving our physical condition, and that covers a broad range of areas.
When I see a headline in the media about opioid painkillers, the first thing I think of is addiction. And rightly so, as most news stories tend to be about the addictive nature of opioid painkillers, about overdoses, drug crime connected to painkillers,...
The United States differs from other wealthy nations in that we prefer to incarcerate drug addicts rather than provide effective long term treatment for their addictions.. Take a cursory glance at the Federal Bureau of Prisons’statistics on rates of...
The American incarceration system earns a fair amount of criticism amongst Americans and foreigners alike. And there’s some good reasons for that. For one thing, the U.S. incarcerates its citizens at a rate exceeding all other countries in the world.
In my ongoing research, I came across Dr. Nora Volkow’s June 27, 2019 blog post at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Dr. Volkow is the director of NIDA, which itself is a part of the National Institutes of Health.
Drug and alcohol misuse at any age carries with it a severe risk not only for the user but for those around them as well. And while drug and alcohol misuse can occur with anyone, at any time, and under just about any circumstances, this life-threatening...
One of the challenges that we face when addressing our country's drug problem is a lack of relevant and current data about the drug problem. It seems that every time we research the drug crisis, we find that the majority of published data on the subject...
Heroin addiction. The term itself brings out feelings of discomfort, sadness, and heartache. It seems like everywhere we turn there is another story of an individual who died from a heroin overdose—a life lost, a family tormented.
It’s no coincidence that the strides towards the legalization of psychedelics fit right into the footsteps left by recent efforts to legalize marijuana. It seems that our country is edging closer to drug legalization being more broadly accepted. But...
In a nation that struggles with a drug addiction epidemic, our society rapidly seeks solutions and methodology for reducing the drug problem.
Dying is just a part of the life cycle. But the circumstances under which people die can be significant, especially when avoidable. Death rates from drugs, alcohol, and suicide are at all-time highs. These death rates are higher than they ever have been...
Many of us silently cheer when we hear about a mega-corporation losing a lawsuit against an underdog. This particular aspect of human nature is evidenced in Hollywood films, music, books, pop culture, and bedtime stories.
When we examine drug and alcohol addiction as a severe humanitarian crisis, the first place we’re going to look is within our own families. We’ll check close to home, as this is the area that impacts our lives the most.