CHESTER, Vt. (AP) — An animal tranquilizer is turning up in drug overdoses across the country. A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says xylazine was involved in fatal drug overdoses in 23 states in 2019, with a highest rate — 67% — happening in the Northeast. Officials say the the animal…
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri could get as much as $500 million to help victims of the opioid epidemic as part of a tentative settlement with the three biggest U.S. drug distribution companies and the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson. Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt on Thursday announced Missouri’s share of the $26 billion deal…
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is suing Walmart, alleging the company unlawfully dispensed controlled substances through its pharmacies, helping to fuel the opioid crisis in America. The civil complaint being filed Tuesday points to the role Walmart’s pharmacies may have played in the crisis by filling opioid prescriptions and by unlawfully distributing controlled substances…
St. Louis (AP) An eastern Missouri doctor has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for prescribing fentanyl and other opioids to women with whom he had personal relationships who had no medical need for the drugs. The doctor, 62-year-old Philip Dean of Warrenton, pleaded guilty in August to federal charges of illegally…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill says federal drug enforcement officials didn’t hold major drug distributors accountable while prescription opioids flowed into Missouri between 2012 and 2017. McCaskill released a report Wednesday that she says found three major distributors reported wildly different numbers of suspicious shipments of opioids to the U.S. Drug…
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) — Gov. Bruce Rauner has signed legislation aimed at combating fraudulent opioid prescriptions by requiring drug prescribers to use a database containing patient prescription histories. The measure Rauner signed Wednesday requires prescribers with an Illinois Controlled Substance License to register for and use the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program. The database…
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Gov. Eric Greitens has made his first appointment to the state’s medical licensing board as his administration works to get a database that can identify problem prescribers off the ground. Dr. Katherine Mathews will start working on the licensing board immediately and then have an official confirmation hearing in the…
St. Charles County, MO (KTRS) Efforts continue to raise awareness about the dangerous heroin and opioid epidemic in our country. On Tuesday evening, Francis Howell High School hosted a Town Hall meeting to educate the community on this issue. About 100 people gathered in the school’s auditorium, where they were presented with a reenactment of…
