By Join Together Staff; Recovery Connections
More than 20,000 U.S. veterans have left military service during the past four years with an other-than-honorable discharge, which can restrict their disability and veterans health care benefits, The Seattle Times reports. Many of these men and women are struggling with drug abuse and/or post-traumatic stress disorder. » More

By Karen M. Cheung
The Joint Commission yesterday warned hospitals about the dangers of using opioids on inpatients, calling for greater staff education particularly on opioid analgesics, which are most commonly associated with adverse drug events.

Although the accrediting body acknowledged that opioids are generally safe for most patients, The Joint Commission pointed out the drugs, such as fentanyl, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxycodone, sufentanil, can cause side effects like sedation, falls, hypertension and aspiration pneumonia.  » More

By David Whiting; THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
The prescription drug epidemic killing young people in Orange County and nationwide is filled with tragedy. But it's also filled with battles won against all odds.

Five years ago, Kirk Shaffer was a promising academic scholarship student at a Christian university.

But a lot can happen in five years. Heck, a lot can happen in a single night, especially when the party includes drugs like OxyContin.

The 23-year-old recently spoke to 200 people at a community gathering and marveled that he was still alive. He confessed to overdosing more than a dozen times.  » More

By Tinker Ready
Surgical patients who experience side effects from opioids stay in the hospital longer and cost more to treat than those who do not experience such events, a new study has found. The study is the first to quantify the costs of complications from opioids, according to the researchers.

The retrospective analysis of 45,342 patients found that opioid-related adverse events increased costs from an average of $17,281 to $18,309, or more than $1,000 per patient. Patients who experienced side effects stayed in the hospital for an average of 5.2 days, roughly a full day longer than the 4.1 days for those who did not have adverse events (P<0.0001), the researchers found.

The researchers presented their findings at the 2012 annual meeting of the International Anesthesia Research Society (abstract S-366). » More