opioids

Stomach this: scientists are genetically engineering bacteria which cause food-poisoning to create new opioid painkillers.
It’s OK. I’ll give you time to re-read that sentence.

Big Pharma won big today when the Senate nearly unanimously approved Dr. Robert Califf as the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). And not everyone is happy about it.
Califf was confirmed for the job in a vote of 89 to 4 after weeks of opposition from a handful of senators, including presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who had attempted to block the longtime cardiologist and academic researcher. [1]

Public health directors across the United States are pressuring the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to put a “black box” warning, the agency’s strongest warning, on prescription painkillers and sedatives. [1]
The demand, which comes in the form of a petition, comes as cities and states grapple with a growing epidemic of painkiller abuse.
The officials write in the petition submitted Monday:

In an effort to cut prescription painkiller addiction and overdose deaths, the CDC created prescribing guidelines. But it looks like Big Pharma is delaying those guidelines, likely to protect drug sales.

Another year has come and gone and the number of tragic, troubling deaths due to marijuana overdoses has not decreased.
That’s because if that number decreased, it would be in the negative. It’s 2016, and still no one has died from a marijuana overdose, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) numbers released last month.