Recent News

FDA orders stronger warnings about risk of using opioid painkillers with certain anti-anxiety drugs (LA Times)

Sep 1st, 2016

The  Food and Drug Administration is issuing strong new warnings that the combined use of opioid medications and benzodiazepines, a class of anti-anxiety medications better known by such commercial names as Xanax and Ativan, can dangerously suppress breathing and cause coma or death.

The drug safety agency is recommending that physicians take extra care in prescribing medication regimens that mix the two classes of drugs. And it is alerting people who use — or abuse — such drugs to the “serious risks” of taking them together.

 

Mixing opioids and popular sedatives may be deadly (CBS News)

Sep 1st, 2016

Mixing prescription opioid painkillers with a class of drugs that includes popular sedatives such as Valium and Xanax can cause a fatal overdose, U.S. health officials warned Wednesday.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it will require “boxed warnings” on 389 different products to inform health professionals and the public of this potentially lethal drug interaction, FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said during a media briefing.

Baltimore task force aims to warn drug users away from fentanyl on the streets (Baltimore Sun)

Sep 1st, 2016

When drug users buy heroin on the streets of Baltimore, they don't know whether it also contains fentanyl, a synthetic painkiller so powerful that small amounts can kill.

Now the city plans to tell them when and where the heroin is likely to be adulterated.

As Naloxone’s Price Spikes, Baltimore Forges Ahead Against Opioids (U.S News)

Sep 1st, 2016

BALTIMORE — Volunteers and city health workers have set up a table here at the corner of East Baltimore and North Gay streets – near City Hall in an area filled with peep shows and strip clubs, known to residents as simply "The Block."

Nathan Fields, a community health educator for the city, has been coming to this area regularly for eight years, working with others from the health department to provide needle exchange, HIV testing and reproductive counseling. Today his team is providing passersby with naloxone, a lifesaving drug given to people overdosing on opioids like Oxycontin, Percocet or heroin.

Should the cost of naloxone be determined by its public health impact? (Modern Healthcare)

Sep 1st, 2016

The rising cost of naloxone—a 40-year-old drug capable of reversing drug overdoses—is prompting questions about the wisdom of allowing market-forces to determine the price of a vital tool in the public health response to the nation'sopioid crisis.

Baltimore Explores a Bold Solution to Fight Heroin Addiction (Nationswell)

Sep 1st, 2016

Health commissioner Dr. Leana S. Wen gives every single city resident access to medication that stops an overdose in its tracks.

Baltimore City Announces Increased Response to Addiction on International Overdose Awareness Day

Aug 31st, 2016

Baltimore, Md. (August 31, 2016) – Today, Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen joined U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, Congressman John Sarbanes, and partners across the city to highlight Baltimore’s ongoing response to the overdose crisis in observance of International Overdose Awareness Day, a global annual event to raise awareness of overdose and reduce stigma associated with the disease of addiction.      

Baltimore City Health Commissioner Commends FDA for Issuing Warning for Dangerous Combination of Medications Amid Opioid Overdose Crisis

Aug 31st, 2016

BALTIMORE, MD (August 31, 2016) – Today, Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen issued the following statement in response to the decision by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to adopt a “black box warning” on the concurrent prescription of opioids and benzodiazepines: 

New labels warn against mixing opioids, benzodiazepines (CNN)

Aug 31st, 2016

In the Food and Drug Administration's latest move to help stem the tide of drug overdoses, it is now requiring "black-box warnings" on nearly 400 products to warn about the dangers of using opioid painkillers in combination with benzodiazepines, drugs commonly used to treat neurological and psychological conditions including seizure, anxiety and insomnia. 

Both opioids, such as hydrocodone and oxycodone, and benzodiazepines, such as diazepam and alprazolam, can slow the central nervous system. Using them together can lead to extreme sleepiness, respiratory depression, coma and death.

Baltimore attacking overdose epidemic (WMAR)

Aug 31st, 2016

On Baltimore's Block, they deal in drugs of a different kind---naloxone, which is an antidote for opioids, and one of the city’s health educators, Nathan Fields, offers a simple message. 

"If you save a life today, you can make a better choice tomorrow,” Fields said. “If you don't save a life today and that person dies, then there's no tomorrow." 

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