Author: Cheryl Alkon

There’s a straight line between the overprescribing of opioid painkillers and the devastating crisis of heroin addiction in the US. It’s been called “the worst public health crisis in decades. ”The crisis is an epidemic of heroin addiction in the US. But it started with prescription opioid  painkillers. There’s a straight line starting with the rise of opioid use, through the addiction to these (legal) drugs, to the explosion of heroin addiction and overdose deaths, say experts. It’s a problem receiving notice from law enforcement officials around the country, frustrated by the devastation of heroin abuse in their jurisdictions, as…

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4 reasons dangerous side effects are found after millions of people use a drug — and 8 popular drugs that are no longer on the shelves Nearly 5 billion dollars. That’s how much pharmaceutical company Merck paid to people and families who claimed one of the popular drugs, painkiller Vioxx harmed them or their loved ones. In one of the largest civil lawsuit settlements in recent history, the Vioxx manufacturer in 2007 agreed to pay $4.85 billion to people involved in the 27,000 outstanding Vioxx lawsuits against Merck. Those cases claimed that Vioxx was linked to stroke, heart attack or…

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