despite increased availability of online promotional tools for prescription drug marketers, evidence on online prescription drug promotion is far from settled or conclusive. we highlight ways in which online prescription drug promotion is similar to conventional broadcast and print advertising and ways in which it differs. we also highlight five key areas for future research: branded drug websi...

INTRODUCTION Opioid use disorder is a chronic, relapsing disease that encompasses use of both prescription opioids and heroin and is associated with a high annual rate of overdose deaths. Medical treatment has proven more successful than placebo treatment or psychosocial intervention, and the partial µ-opioid receptor agonist and κ-opioid receptor antagonist buprenorphine is similar in efficacy...

CASE DESCRIPTION A 41-year-old African-American woman was admitted to an inpatient hospice facility with advanced, inoperable cervical cancer. The patient was experiencing severe pain secondary to extensive local tumor invasion, osseous pelvic metastases, and sacral decubitus ulcers. Her pain was treated with an escalating-dose schedule of morphine sulfate until satisfactory analgesia was achie...

BACKGROUND Drug diversion in the operating room (OR) by anesthesia providers is a recognized problem with significant morbidity and mortality. Use of anesthesia drug dispensing systems in ORs, coupled with the presence of anesthesia or OR information management systems, may allow detection through database queries screening for atypical drug transactions. Although such transactions occur innoce...

OBJECTIVE There has been a sharp increase in the abuse of prescription opioid analgesics in the United States in the past decade. It has been asserted, particularly by several governmental and regulatory agencies, that the Internet has become a significant source of these drugs which may account to a great extent for the surge in abuse. We have studied whether this is correct. DESIGN We asked...

Opioid prescribing for chronic nonterminal pain has increased in recent years, although evidence for its long-term effectiveness is weak and its potential for harm is significant. Nonmedical use of prescription opioids, diversion, and overdose deaths have also increased sharply, sparking concern about the safety of these medications. Physicians considering initiation or continuation of opioid t...

Mayo Clinic has been involved in an ongoing effort to prevent the diversion of controlled substances from the workplace and to rapidly identify and respond when such diversion is detected. These efforts have found that diversion of controlled substances is not uncommon and can result in substantial risk not only to the individual who is diverting the drugs but also to patients, co-workers, and ...

indications for linezolid use are nosocomial or community-acquired pneumonia and skin infections or soft tissue infection caused by gram-positive microorganisms, but new recommendations may emerge. it is important to balance benefits with risks because severe adverse events have been described in patients taking linezolid treatment. accordingly, we evaluated the suitability of linezolid prescri...

BACKGROUND Among high-risk youth, those who may be at increased risk for adverse alcohol and other drug (AOD) use outcomes may benefit from targeted prevention efforts; how youth acquire AOD may provide an objective means of identifying youth at elevated risk. METHODS We assessed how youth acquired alcohol and marijuana (purchasing vs. other means), demographics, AOD behaviors/consequences, a...