We are recognizing National Prevention Week, an annual health observance dedicated to increasing the awareness of. and action around, mental health and substance use disorders. Each year different themes are included to focus on major substance use and mental health topics. One them is Preventing Prescription and opioid misuse. Thinking about this theme, let’s take…
Apache, China Girl, China Town, Jackpot, Murder 8 – these are just some of the many street names for fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 80-100 times stronger than morphine. It is an FDA approved prescription drug that is typically used to treat long-term severe pain or pain after surgery. For this purpose, it is…
Since 2013, Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida has seen the number of overdoses from both fentanyl and heroin explode. Medical professionals and local officials in the Miami area are searching for ways to help get heroin users into treatment rather than serving jail time. In fact, this effort has caught on nationwide.