DOCTORS OVERPRESCRIBING OPIOIDS

Ren in National News
December 12, 2023

Michigan Healthcare Scheme Involved Opioids

A story broke in early 2023 that revealed a Detroit-area doctor had been sentenced to nearly 17 years in prison and was ordered to pay $30 million. The crime? Leading a scheme to bill Medicare and private insurers for unnecessary painkiller injections and for writing prescriptions for millions of opioids.

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Ren in Legislation
April 14, 2023

Pharma Executives Now Face Jail Time for their Role in the Opioid Epidemic

News reports and Justice Department press releases show two prominent pharmaceutical company executives are facing jail time for their role in causing the opioid epidemic.

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Ren in Opioid Crisis
October 27, 2022

After Years of Advocacy, U.S. Opioid Prescribing Is Declining

After years of cautionary advice from the CDC, addiction horror stories from patients, and undeniable statistics showing the connection between opioid prescribing and addiction, it seems opioid prescribing trends are finally declining in a measurable, consistent manner.

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Ren in Opioid Crisis
December 5, 2021

What is a Pill Mill, and How Do Such Operations Contribute to the Opioid Epidemic?

There were multiple organizations, groups, operations, and factors at play in the inception and promulgation of America’s opioid epidemic. Pain clinics played their role, much to the devastation of countless American families. That’s why it is so crucial that such organizations be held accountable.

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Ren in Opioid Crisis
October 10, 2021

CDC Guidelines Suggest More Conservative Opioid Prescribing, but Is it Enough?

In the wake of the ongoing opioid addiction and overdose epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published conservative prescribing guidelines for U.S. doctors to follow. And while there have been some welcome reductions in prescribing as a result, physicians should go a step further and offer patients alternatives to addictive pain meds.

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Karen Hadley in Costs of drug abuse
September 19, 2021

Drug Use and Addiction: The Financial Burden to Communities and Individuals

Anyone who has loved an addicted person knows: Addiction comes with enormous costs. Some of these costs are emotional and mental. The addicted person suffers from the overwhelming compulsion to use drugs and the physical sickness and deterioration that accompanies the use of alcohol and drugs like heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.

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Ren in Opioid Crisis
July 15, 2021

Are Medical Practitioners Still Overprescribing Opioids?

The foremost commitment of any medical practitioner is to do no harm, and the vast majority of physicians hold to that. But what happens when the very drugs doctors prescribe are harmful?

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Ren in Opioid Crisis
March 19, 2021

Opioid Prescriber to Serve a Seven-Year Jail Sentence for Role in Opioid Epidemic

The majority of doctors practice medicine with ethics, morality, and the intention to help. But when doctors do become immoral, people get hurt. This is the story of one such doctor.

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Karen Hadley in Drug-Related News
April 18, 2020

We’re Limiting Prescriptions of Opioid Painkillers—But What About Benzodiazepines?

Any time we try to solve the drug problem, we have to look at the whole of the problem, not just one drug. Have you ever been to a carnival and played the game called “whack-a-mole”? This game consists of a large board with holes through which mechanical moles stick their heads, one after another.

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Ren in Opioid Crisis
April 7, 2020

How a Surge in Opiate Misuse in the Netherlands Compares to the American Opiate Epidemic

For some time, the U.S. drug problem has seemed entirely unique. But now, similar problems are beginning to develop in Europe. How will European countries tackle their drug problems?

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