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As the number of annual drug overdose deaths across Tennessee continue to rise to record levels, officials with the Sumner County Anti-Drug Coalition say a recently awarded grant could help save local lives. The Gallatin-based nonprofit, which aims to eliminate substance abuse across the county, was one of seven organizations in the state to receive a Strategic Prevention Framework for Prescription Drugs (SPF RX) grant from the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substa

The state’s new weapons to fight the opioid addiction epidemic might be nurses who have been addicts themselves, and naloxone kits in the hands of those most likely to overdose. Oh, and $13.8 million from the Sen. Lamar Alexander-led 21st Century Cures Act. The Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse is counting on its piece of the 21st Century Cures money to come through as early as this month. If the Tennessee legislature also passes Gov. Bill Haslam’s pro

To understand what brought the scores of people to a forum at the West High School lecture hall Tuesday night, you must look at the numbers in the opioid epidemic. Tennessee has the second-highest opioid prescription rate in the country, more than one prescription for every man, woman and child. Opioid prescription and related deaths in Tennessee hit an all-time high of 1,451 in 2015. Almost 2 million Americans abused or were dependent on opioids in 2014. 91 Americans die eve

To understand what brought the scores of people to a forum at the West High School lecture hall Tuesday night, you must look at the numbers in the opioid epidemic. Tennessee has the second-highest opioid prescription rate in the country, more than one prescription for every man, woman and child. Opioid prescription and related deaths in Tennessee hit an all-time high of 1,451 in 2015. Almost 2 million Americans abused or were dependent on opioids in 2014. 91 Americans die eve

I want to share with you all about the difficulty I am still having getting Narcan this year. Last year I had private insurance through my husbands work and that was through United Health of River Valley, in November of 2015 I was able to obtain the Narcan (which is now on recall for faulty administration which tends to stream rather than mist) for a copay of $4. This year when I tried to renew my Narcan I was told with TennCare I need Dr.'s prior authorization for it to be c

Knox County Commission approved two resolutions on Monday to help bring about a diversion facility – also called a safety center – for people with mental illness or substance abuse issues who would otherwise end up in jail. The pair of resolutions were approved 10-1 each, with Commissioner Randy Smith opposing. Smith represents the district in Northwest Knoxville where the facility would go. "I want to make it perfectly clear that the people of this community aren't opposed t

The Knoxville City Council will vote its approval or disapproval for the first time on the jail diversion center, or safety center, that has been the topic of debate in Knox County for the last several months Tuesday night. The Behavioral Health Urgent Care Center is for a 72-hour treatment facility for people with mental health issues or addiction problems who would otherwise go to jail for low-level offenses. The Council will vote on a resolution that will allow Mayor Madel

KNOXVILLE Three decades ago, when Chris Blach began his career as a paramedic, he carried naloxone. Emergency medical technicians used the drug for patients who weren’t breathing after a narcotic overdose — it can reverse narcotics’ depressive effect on the respiratory system. For a time, they also gave it after strokes, until studies showed it didn’t decrease pressure on the brain. In either case, an ambulance might go weeks without restocking naloxone. Those days are gone.

Joy Fanguy was so afraid of overdosing on pain pills that she kept a running log of how many she'd taken on her nightstand. Some nights, she scrawled a note in the event she didn't wake to let her loved ones know her death was not a suicide. "I was always afraid I would take too much so I wrote it all down," Fanguy said. Fanguy got her first taste of prescription painkillers around age 14, when she was given Percocet for migraines. She was addicted by the time she could legal