Prosecutors drop drug trafficking case against FedEx
Associated Press
A criminal trial nearly two years in the making alleging FedEx knowingly delivered illegal prescription drugs to dealers and addicts ended suddenly on June 17, when prosecutors moved to dismiss all charges against the shipping giant. U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco granted the request in a two-page order that did not indicate why prosecutors were dropping the case. The U.S. Attorneys Office said it would have no comment on the decision.
Heroin use at 20-year high in U.S. drug 'epidemic,' U.N. says
Shadia Nasralla, Reuters
A heroin "epidemic" is gripping the United States, where cheap supply has helped push the number of users to a 20-year high, increasing drug-related deaths, the United Nations said on June 23. According to the U.N.'s World Drug Report 2016, the number of heroin users in the United States reached around 1 million in 2014, almost three times as many as in 2003. Heroin-related deaths there have increased five-fold since 2000.
The deadly triangle: dentists, drugs and dependence
Kate Snow and Parminder Deo, NBC News
Like about 5 million people each year, 27-year-old Brittany Ringersen had her wisdom teeth removed when she was a teenager. But what Brittany’s dentist failed to warn her about was that her prescription for Percocet, a commonly used painkiller for post-surgery discomfort, had the potential to lead her down a path of dependence. Recently, a Harvard research team reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association that dentists are among the leading prescribers of opioid analgesics, particularly for surgical tooth extractions. The most revealing aspect of the study was that the highest number of these opioid painkiller prescriptions were for teenagers, aged 14 to 17 years old, closely followed by young adults 18 to 24 years.
Companies struggle to interpret marijuana test results
Alison Knopf, Addiction Professional
After recreational marijuana use became legal in some states, the Society of Human Resource Management conducted a multi-state survey that found many employers vowing to get tougher in response, strengthening their workplace drug policies and maintaining a zero-tolerance attitude toward the drug. “But they backed off because they had a lot of people testing positive,” says Tamara Cagney, CEAP, board member of the Employee Assistance Professionals Association. In states where recreational use is legal, there have been serious questions about whether it’s counterproductive to conduct pre-employment testing for marijuana.
