You can expect more lawsuits against opioid companies in 2017.
It is impossible to talk about the causes of the opioid epidemic without pointing to the manufacturers and distributors that marketed and proliferated these dangerous pills. Yet over the past several years, these multibillion-dollar companies have avoided much in the way of serious accountability.
Until — maybe — now.
This year, multiple lawsuits have been launched against opioid manufacturers and distributors. With the opioid crisis now having resulted in more than 300,000 deadly opioid overdoses since 1999 (greater than the population of Cincinnati), there’s a push to hold accountable the people and companies behind the products that spawned the epidemic. (Continue to Full Story)
~ Foreword ~
More than 350 million people on our planet suffer from depression, and it also has a profound effect on their loved ones. One of the most popular treatments, SSRI antidepressants, is risky, expensive, and not terribly effective. This has prompted some scientists to look for alternatives, and it appears they may have found a good solution in the form of magnesium. 
If you want to see just how quickly drugs can plunge a beautiful and thriving city into desolation, look no further than Baltimore. On the surface, the city has plenty to offer, with lots of history, a lovely harbor, diverse entertainment options, and top research and medical facilities. However as opiate addiction has spread throughout the city over the past several years, it has turned it into a place that is no longer befitting of its nickname, Charm City. 
Statins are a type of cholesterol-lowering drug typically prescribed to patients at risk of cardiovascular disease. Although they may provide relief from heart conditions, the same can’t be said of their effects on the brain. A recent study by researchers from the Penn State College of Medicine has presented a troubling fact about these drugs: the use of statins may increase a person’s susceptibility to Parkinson’s disease. 
There was a time not long ago that the pharmaceutical industry was in a panic over a mounting call for prescription drug price controls and other measures to protect consumers and government agencies from the runaway costs.
The coast-to-coast opioid epidemic is swamping hospitals, with government data published Tuesday showing 1.27 million emergency room visits or inpatient stays for opioid-related issues in a single year.
Last February, Dr. Bérard and her colleagues published an updated analysis of the Quebec Pregnancy Cohort data. Between 1998 and 2009, the rate of antidepressant use during pregnancy for the study population doubled, from 2.1% to 4.3%. During that same period, the rate of major congenital malformations increased by more than 50%, and the rate of maternal depression went up slightly as well.
Most Americans reach for drugs such as Advil or Motrin to alleviate the debilitating pain, regardless of whether it is a headache, joint pain, back pain, or pain of any other kind. Usually, we start with the recommended dose which is then gradually increased if the drug doesn’t seem to help. This has become such a common practice that the FDA has even issued a warning about the risk of these drugs and their role in causing strokes and heart attacks. 
“Life was amazing.” 
Since the beginning of the modern psychopharmaceutical era, the proportion of the population diagnosed with depression has skyrocketed. A condition that once affected fewer than one person out of a thousand now afflicts more than one out of twenty. Today major depression is the leading cause of disability for adults between the ages of 15 and 43.
The state of Ohio has sued five major drug manufacturers for their role in the opioid epidemic. In the lawsuit filed Wednesday, state Attorney General Mike DeWine alleges these five companies “helped unleash a health care crisis that has had far-reaching financial, social, and deadly consequences in the State of Ohio.”