Tag: drug
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Drug Overdoses in Young People on the Rise
PISCATAWAY, NJ – In American adolescents and young adults, death rates from drug poisoning, particularly from opioids, have sharply increased over the last 10 years, according to new research in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. In 2006, the death rate from drug poisoning from any type of legal or illicit drug was 8.1…
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Special Report: Physician Leadership is Boosting War on Opioids
MONTGOMERY – According to a new report by the American Medical Association, physicians have taken the lead in the nation’s battle on opioids by lowering the number of opioid prescriptions they write, making better use of state prescription drug monitoring programs, becoming better trained and certified in the use of opioid use disorders, and in…
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President Trump Signs Right-to-Try Act
On Wednesday, May 30, 2018, Pres. Donald Trump signed the Right-to-Try Act, which allows terminally ill patients the ability to try drugs in preliminary testing but not-yet-approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The aim is to make it easier for those patients suffering from fatal illness who have exhausted all other resources to access…
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Trump Administration Releases Drug Pricing Blueprint
On May 11, The Trump Administration released “American Patients First,” the President’s blueprint to lower drug prices and reduce out-of-pocket costs, along with a request for information. The Blueprint was framed as advancing four specific goals: Reducing list prices; Improving government’s ability to negotiate better prices; Encouraging competition through rapid entry to market of generics and…
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![What If No One Was On Call [at the Legislature]?](https://alabamamedicine.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/AlabamaStateHouse_banner.jpg)
What If No One Was On Call [at the Legislature]?
2018 Recap of the Regular Session of the Alabama Legislature In times of illness, injury and emergency, patients depend on their physicians. But what if no one was on call? Public health would be in jeopardy. However, the same holds true for the Legislature. During the 2018 session alone, if the Medical Association had not…
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Successful Take Back Alabama Week Ends with Opioid Summit
REVISED APRIL 27, 2018 ─ The Medical Association’s Take Back Alabama Week kicked off this week with a press conference at Walgreens in Birmingham on Monday, April 23. Representatives from AmerisourceBergen, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, Pfizer, Prime Therapeutics and Walgreens joined Attorney General Steve Marshall and Birmingham physician Gregory Ayers to announce…
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Alabama SB39: Another Shot in the Opioid Battle
On March 28, 2018, Alabama Senate Bill 39 was sent to Governor Ivey’s desk for signature. SB39 introduces stiffer penalties related to fentanyl possession and distribution. It amounts to a local effort forming part of a nationwide, multi-pronged response to the opioid epidemic that has plagued the country in recent years. While this bill is…
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Just What the Doctor Ordered: An Alabama Perspective on the Opioid Epidemic
Sometimes, Alabama is No. 1. In 2012, Alabama was the highest per capita painkiller prescribing state, with an average of 143 prescriptions written per 100 people — almost three times the rate of the lowest prescribing state.1 Alabama has been home to other No. 1s, too. In 2012, Dr. Shelinder Aggarwal, a former Huntsville-area pain…
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FDA Classifies Kratom as Opioid
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has officially classified the plant kratom, originally seen as an opioid alternative, as an opioid itself, stating that compounds in kratom act like prescription-strength opioids. Found in Malaysia, the leaves of the kratom plant are traditionally crushed and made into a tea to treat pain as well as heroin…
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Medical Association’s 2018 State and Federal Agendas
The Medical Association Board of Censors has met and approved the Association’s 2018 State and Federal Agendas. These agendas were developed with guidance from the House of Delegates and input from individual physicians. As the Alabama Legislature and U.S. Congress begin their work for 2018, additional items affecting physicians, medical practices and patients may be…