Painkillers

An eye-opening new study on opioid overdose deaths unfortunately makes sense.

The annual drug take-back program a month ago has yielded 44 tons of expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs at 580 collection sites across New England. The Drug Enforcement Administration said it's estimated that 10 percent of the drugs were opioid pain killers...

Massachusetts House lawmakers have approved a bill aimed at addressing the state's alarming spike in opioid overdoses and deaths. The bill passed Wednesday on a unanimous vote. It would limit initial opiate painkiller prescriptions to a seven-day supply and set an evaluation requirement within 24 hours for overdose victims seeking help at emergency rooms...

Why are there so many heroin overdoses all of a sudden? It's happening here and all across the country. And the short answer is people are reportedly overdosing on dangerous narcotics like fentanyl that has been mixed with heroin. To put this in perspective, fentanyl is 30 times more potent than heroin and is usually used for painful surgical procedures...

Heroin users aren't always the strung-out addict in the alley or bridge underpass. More and more often, they're the middle-class housewife next door! Heroin use is reaching into new communities - addicting more and more women and middle-class users - as people hooked on prescription painkillers transition to cheaper illegal drugs, a new report shows...

Calling it a public health emergency, Gov. Charlie Baker has unveiled the first steps his administration plans to take in fighting heroin and prescription drug abuse and addiction. During a stop Thursday at the Hope House treatment center in Boston, the governor announced the first-ever public release of data the state collects on the number of prescriptions written for painkillers and overdose de

With the amount of fatal heroin overdoses on the Southcoast down, and the number of overdose reversals on the rise thanks to first responders, things are looking up in the fight against heroin and drug abuse. But Carl Alves, director of Positive Action Against Chemical Addiction says there's still a long road ahead...

A painkiller is the most popular prescription drug in the U.S.