Latest Drugs Headlines
All the headlines from our Drugs Topic Page, ordered by recency.
False Claims Settlements in 2016 Top $4.7 Billion: Justice Department
Dec 15 2016 // The Department of Justice obtained more than $4.7 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims against the government in fiscal year 2016. This is the third highest annual recovery...
State Marijuana Laws Are Changing But Employer Attitudes, Federal Law Aren’t
Dec 14 2016 // Changing marijuana laws aren’t necessarily making weed more welcome in the workplace. For now, many employers appear to be sticking with their drug testing and personal conduct policies, even in states where...
Experts: Pilot of Crashed Texas Balloon on 10 Different Prescription Meds
Dec 13 2016 // The pilot of a hot air balloon that crashed in Texas in July, killing 16 people, was taking medications that should have precluded him from flying, medical experts testified at a federal hearing on Dec. 9. Experts also...
Feds Charge 18 People in Pennsylvania Prescription Fraud
Dec 12 2016 // Federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh have charged 18 people in 13 separate indictments with fraudulently obtaining prescription painkillers from government insurance programs then re-selling them on the street. Most of the...
The New OSHA Rules = No Secrets
Dec 5 2016 // On May 12, 2016, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) changed the way the workplace injury game is played. Many believe the playing field was tipped in OSHA’s direction. This will have a dramatic...
Officials: Wisconsin Calves Linked to Drug-Resistant Salmonella
Dec 1 2016 // A multistate outbreak of salmonella bacteria that is resistant to several drugs has been linked to infected dairy bull calves purchased in Wisconsin, according to federal and state health officials. According to the...
House Passes Bill to Speed Up Drug Approvals
Dec 1 2016 // The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a sweeping, $6.3 billion bill that supporters say will spur medical innovation, speed access to new drugs, expand access to mental health treatment and battle the...
Atlanta Judge Awards $36M in Damages in Bobbi Kristina Death Case
Nov 23 2016 // A judge in Atlanta ordered Bobbi Kristina Brown’s partner, Nick Gordon, to pay $36 million in a wrongful death case, her estate’s lawyers said Nov 17. Brown, the daughter of singers Whitney Houston and Bobby...
Special Report: A Tale of Superbugs’ Deadly Costs
Nov 22 2016 // With good reason, Dan Greulich’s doctors called him “the miracle man.” In the span of a decade, the insurance company executive engaged not once, but twice, in a race with death as he awaited replacements...
West Virginia Settles Claims Against 3 Drug Companies for $800K
Nov 21 2016 // The West Virginia Attorney General’s Office says it has reached settlements with three more prescription drug wholesalers for $800,000 resolving allegations they failed to detect, report and stop suspiciously large...
Trucking Company Settles California Discrimination Case with Sikhs for $260K
Nov 16 2016 // A national trucking company has agreed to pay $260,000 to settle discrimination complaints by four Sikh drivers who were denied jobs for refusing to take drug tests that would have violated their religious beliefs. J.B....
Medical Marijuana OK’d in Conservative Arkansas, but Fights Remain
Nov 10 2016 // Arkansas voters handed marijuana advocates a significant victory by passing a measure that would legalize the drug for medical use, but groups on both sides of the issue are now gearing up for fights over how to set up the...
Feds Say Virginia Prison Guards Tried to Smuggle Drugs in for Gang
Nov 8 2016 // Federal authorities say they’ve arrested former prison guards connected to a gang that sells drugs inside Virginia state prisons to help finance its activities. An indictment unsealed Friday alleges a wide-ranging...
Illinois Company Recalls Overdose Antidote Device
Nov 7 2016 // Ohio’s addictions agency has issued an awareness alert after a company recalled a device used to deliver the drug overdose antidote naloxone. The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services said the recall by...
Wisconsin Sees 10% Drop in Written Opioid Prescriptions
Nov 7 2016 // A state system to track prescription painkillers in Wisconsin to prevent abuse shows a nearly 10 percent drop in the number of opioid prescriptions written and filled compared to this time last year. Wisconsin’s...
New Jersey Woman Sues UMass Over Son’s Fatal Drug Overdose
Nov 7 2016 // The mother of a University of Massachusetts Amherst student who died of a heroin overdose has filed a $6 million lawsuit against the school and another student charged with selling her son the drugs. Francesca...
Records Show Company Shipped Millions of Pills to West Virginia
Nov 7 2016 // Federal records show a drug company shipped 241 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills to West Virginia over a five-year period. The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports Cardinal Health’s shipment figures were disclosed...
Workers’ Compensation Spending on Drugs Falls 8.7%: Study
Nov 2 2016 // An analysis of pharmacy cost data shows there was an 8.7 percent drop in spending on drugs in 2015 in workers’ compensation injury cases. The decline in 2015 is consistent with the overall downward drug cost trend...
Court Disqualifies 1 of 2 Medical Marijuana Proposals on Arkansas Ballot
Oct 28 2016 // Arkansas Supreme Court has disqualified a medical marijuana proposal from the November ballot less than two weeks before the election and with thousands of votes already cast, but voters will still be able to consider a...
North Dakota Voters to Decide on Medical Marijuana
Oct 24 2016 // North Dakota voters will decide next month whether to legalize marijuana for medical use, by siding with opponents who say sciences is on their side or with supporters like a desperate grandmother who illegally purchased...
