OPIOID CRISIS | Fox News

OPIOID CRISIS | Fox News

60 PEOPLE CHARGED IN OPIOID STING: Federal authorities said Wednesday they have charged 60 people, including a doctor accused of trading drugs for sex and another of prescribing to his Facebook friends, for their roles in illegally prescribing and distributing millions of pills containing opioids and other drugs ... U.S. Attorney Benjamin Glassman of Cincinnati described the action, with 31 doctors facing charges, as the biggest known takedown yet of drug prescribers. Robert Duncan, U.S. attorney for eastern Kentucky, called the doctors involved "white-coated drug dealers."

Authorities said the 60 includes 53 medical professionals tied to some 350,000 prescriptions and 32 million pills. The operation was conducted by the federal Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force, launched last year by the Trump administration. - The Associated Press

Opioid Crisis

3:17

13 hours ago

60 physicians and pharmacists charged in federal opioid prescription crackdown

Fox News correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera on the crackdown and the growing opioid crisis on 'The Story.'

April 10

Gutfeld on the unintended victims of the opioid crackdown

Restrictions on prescription opioids are hurting some cancer patients and others who need them for pain relief.

5:57

April 10

Gutfeld on the unintended victims of the opioid crackdown

Insurers make it more difficult for people with legitimate needs to get prescriptions for painkillers.

April 4

Drug company put 'profits over patients' with opioid push: prosecutors

In order to convince insurance companies to cover a prescription of Subsys, prosecutors say Insys set up call centers where employees posed as physicians' assistants and were told to say whatever was necessary -- including falsely stating that a patient had cancer -- to get the insurers' approval.

April 3

Massachusetts state prisons offer medication to combat inmates' opioid addiction

Some Massachusetts state prisons began administering medication to treat opioid addiction in newly arriving inmates as part of a new law that took effect on Monday -- a groundbreaking new program to help combat the opioid crisis.

March 29

New York sues makers of OxyContin days after company agrees to $270M settlement

New York attorney general announced Thursday the state is suing the Sackler family, the billionaire owners of Purdue Pharma which produces the highly addictive opioid pain-killer OxyContin, for their involvement in the nationwide opioid crisis just two days after the company agreed to pay $270 million to settle similar claims in Oklahoma.

March 27

Gov. Cuomo's proposed prescription opioid surcharge under fire, critics call it tax on pain

A proposal by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to impose a surcharge on the sale of prescription opioids is drawing fire from a coalition of doctors, pharmacists and patients who say it amounts to a tax on pain.

March 26

Oklahoma settles with OxyContin maker for $270 million

The state of Oklahoma has reached a $270 million settlement with Purdue Pharma, which makes OxyContin, seen as pivotal in the opioid overdose crisis that has blamed in part on misleading information the company provided to doctors about the potential for addiction.

March 26

Las Vegas vending machine dispenses overdose-reversal drug Narcan

Las Vegas, which in 2017 became the first city in the U.S. to provide syringes through vending machines, has added the opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan to the items that can be obtained.

March 22

Fentanyl overdose deaths soared after 2013, new federal data shows

Drug overdose deaths linked to fentanyl saw a sharp rise from 2013 through 2016, doubling each year, according to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.