Tag: drug abuse
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States and their congressmen battling new painkiller that is easier to crush and inject
Some states are restricting the use of the new painkiller Zohydro, “setting up a showdown with the federal government over who gets to decide the best way to protect public...
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General Assembly’s failure to pass heroin bill incites wrath, calls for local action and a special session
In the final hours of the 2014 legislative session, the House failed to pass Senate Bill 5, which would have helped combat heroin abuse. Some heroin-recovery advocates and community leaders are...
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Group overseeing effort to make state healthier hears of ‘dire need,’ tools for improvement
Kentucky’s health is “in dire need of improvement,” but the state has some tools to do that, including health-care reform and the insurance program for its own employees, the group...
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Number of Kentucky babies born addicted keeps rising quickly as heroin replaces harder-to-get prescription painkillers
Despite the crackdown on prescription painkillers, more Kentucky babies are being born addicted, “fueled by a recent spike in heroin use,” much of it by people who have found prescription...
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Rogers, other drug-caucus chair file bill to reverse FDA’s approval of new painkiller; competing company has alternative
Illustration from PainAndDepression.com U.S. Reps. Hal Rogers of Somerset and Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts have introduced a bill to withdraw federal approval of a new formulation of hydrocodone that is...
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Beshear lays out plan for improving Kentucky’s health, with specific goals and largely administrative strategies
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News Gov. Steve Beshear set seven specific, numerical goals Thursday for improving Kentucky’s “dismal” health status, which he said is hurting the state’s education, productivity,...
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Poll indicates Northern Kentucky is having a heroin epidemic
A poll indicates that Northern Kentucky is the hotbed for heroin use in the state, which has increased since the state legislature cracked down on abuse of prescription painkillers. The...
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More than $32 million from settlements with drug makers will finance expanded substance-abuse treatment in Kentucky
By Melissa Patrick and Al Cross Kentucky Health News Kentucky will receive more than $32 million as a result of lawsuit settlements with two pharmaceutical companies, and top state officials...
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HIV and AIDS cases are on the rise in Kentucky; officials blame lack of education and increase of heroin use
Despite readily available information and awareness about practicing safe sex, and avoiding sharing needles, HIV and AIDS cases are on the rise in Kentucky. And the reason, say officials, is...
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Night lingers in Appalachia, but there are rays of sunlight
Harry Caudill talked with U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedyduring his visit to Eastern Kentucky in February 1968. In 1963, Harry Caudill of Letcher County published Night Comes to the Cumberlands:...