Abdul Reveals Painkiller Addiction

(NEWSER) - The Paula Abdul roller-coaster continues. The Idol judge says Ladies' Home Journal got it all wrong: She now insists she was never addicted to painkillers, and she never checked into a rehab facility, E! reports. “It was very stressful for me to hear that and to be quoted saying something I never said,” Abdul told a radio station today. “I've never checked into a rehab clinic. I've never been addicted or abused drugs.” More»

Drugs with hydrocodone may cause more addiction

(NEWSER) - A more powerful version of America's second-most abused medicine is likely headed for a doctor's office near you, the AP reports. Four companies are in the patient-testing phase of painkillers that will be up to 10 times more effective than Vicodin thanks to a highly addictive ingredient called hydrocodone. Critics are targeting one pill in particular: Zohydro, which addicts could crush to bypass its time-release effect and receive an immediate high. More»

Topping heroin, cocaine combined

(NEWSER) - Are prescription drugs more dangerous than their illegal counterparts? In 2008, prescription painkiller overdoses outnumbered deaths from heroin and cocaine combined, according to a new CDC report. Of the 36,450 US overdose deaths that year, 14,800 involved opioid painkillers like oxycodone, methadone, or hydrocodone. That’s a significant increase from 1999, when only about 4,000 overdoses were caused by opioids, the Los Angeles Times reports. Some kind of prescription drug was involved in 20,044 of the deaths. More»

Doctors only give pills to 1 in 5 abusers: Study

(NEWSER) - Looks like Michael Jackson was the exception to the rule. Most painkiller addicts get their pills from family or friends rather than doctors, according to a new study. Just 1 in 5 abusers use their doctor as their primary source for their drugs, and 69% get their drugs exclusively from non-medical sources, the study found, according to Time . Among those aged 18-to-25, that figure jumps to 77%. More»

WHO calls for end to country's strict limits

(NEWSER) - Rules tied to the Soviet era have left Ukraine with some of the world’s toughest painkiller laws—restrictions so broad that some cancer patients have attempted suicide to escape the pain, the AP reports. Morphine, for example, isn’t available in tablet form, and patients are limited to 50 milligrams a day, when doctors say they may need 4,000. The pain means “these people are crossed out from life even before death,” says one doctor in the country. Human Rights Watch charged today that hundreds of thousands of people are denied pain relief in the country. More»