News
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Responding to concerns about excessive prescribing of drugs, Washington state has new rules in effect. But will it make a difference in a trend that is claiming more lives nationally, including among the young? Read more...
With a law that took effect this month, Washington state is making a bold attempt to reduce overdose deaths. Read more...
Because trace levels of pharmaceuticals have been detected in drinking water and linked to abnormalities in aquatic organisms, drug-disposal legislation has attracted broad support from public health officials, law enforcement agencies, and environmental groups.Yet the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, whose twelve largest companies made a profit of $US 44 billion in 2010, have countered with a coast-to-coast campaign to prevent lawmakers from making the industry pay for drug-disposal programs.... Read more...
DEA National Pharmaceutical Take-Back Day was Saturday, with people taking advantage of the free, no-questions-asked national drug-disposal effort. Read more...
"The secure collection and disposal of unwanted medications is a key part of our drug abus prevention strategy", said Sheriff John Lovick from Snohomish County, Washington. "We collected nearly three thousand pounds of medicines in 2010, and need a partnership with the drug industry to keep these collections going." Read more...
Pharmaceutical poisoning remains a common childhood injury, despite years of concerted prevention efforts, such as improved safe guards on packaging. Over half a million children are exposed to pharmaceuticals each year. A new study soon to be published in The Journal of Pediatrics attempts to understand this growing problem to aid in the progress of reducing the number of childhood injuries due to pharmaceutical poisoning. Read more...