Tennessee Faces an Opioids Crisis. Here's How the Candidates for Governor Plan to Tackle It.
Tennessee’s top-tier gubernatorial candidates all agree the ongoing opioid epidemic is among the most critical issues facing the Volunteer State. But, for the most part, that’s where their commonalities end. U.S. Rep. Diane Black, who believes in the value of the overdose-reversal drug naloxone, is skeptical about making it widely available in public. Overwhelming evidence indicates it prevents deaths and top health officials recommend it be almost ubiquitous as fire extingui
Keith Urban Offers Advice to Demi Lovato on Combating Addiction: 'It's All Up to Her'
Country superstar Keith Urban recently shared advice about overcoming addiction to Demi Lovato after she suffered an apparent overdose last week. The Nashville-based singer offered Lovato support Monday while on the Australian morning show Today Extra and opened up about several things that helped him overcome his own battle with substance abuse. "I don’t know anything about her personally,” said Urban, who struggled with addiction for years before kicking a drug habit in 200
These Opioid Addicts Looked Dead. Then Nashville Police Reached for their 'Magic' Drug.
Officer Justin Franklin had just left the police station in Hermitage when his radio crackled to life. He rushed to the Old Hickory area, where a woman was dying on her front porch. The scene was so cliché it felt as if it had been ripped from a television screen. The woman was slumped on the porch steps, eyelids drooped and barely breathing. On the ground by her side was a syringe, a spoon and a dime bag. Relatives were weeping. An ambulance has been called, but nobody knew
Doctors Restricted My Husband's Pain Medication. He Committed Suicide. | Opinion
There have recently been a few minor stories about the closing of Comprehensive Pain Specialists clinics across the region due to financial issues and a federal criminal investigation. Some have even mentioned that an estimated 45,000 pain patients are now without a pain management doctor. If this were 45,000 cancer patients not receiving treatment in the weeks to come, it would be headline news. People would be up in arms over that denial of care. If you or somebody you love
Chronic Pain Patients Caught in Middle Opioid Epidemic
Stricter regulations aimed to stop people from misusing prescription drugs are leaving patients who use opioids responsibly with greater challenges to get their medication. "They're afraid we're abusing. We don't abuse our drugs. We need them too bad. We need them on a regular basis," said Janette Konersman. "I've heard of people committing suicide because they can't get the pain meds, and I can understand that. If I didn't have the little bit I'm getting, I can't even imagin
Suspected Overdose Death Statistics
In response to the devastating spike of overdose deaths in Knox County, the Drug Related Task Force is proactively analyzing suspected overdose deaths. Law enforcement is analyzing data in real time to pinpoint significant trends, location hotspots and supply sources in order to stem the opioid epidemic in our community. To view the 2016 Fatal Overdose Victims and the Criminal Justice System report, click here. The following data sets show the number of suspected drug overdos
CBD Oil Sold Freely in Knoxville, but State Law, Federal Policy Clash on Its Use
Cannabidiol oil, or CBD oil, derived from industrial hemp is sold freely at area health stores and vape shops. But if workers at Oak Ridge’s U.S. Department of Energy facilities and the Y-12 National Security Complex use it, they could be treated like users of heroin or LSD. That’s because federal law still classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug – and though hemp-derived CBD oil has minimal amounts of the high-producing chemical THC, standard drug tests can’t tell the diff
KPD Support Group Remembers Those Lost to Drug Overdose
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- "We've had to adjust to life without him," said Kim Jones, who lost her son to an overdose. Kim Jones lost her son, Patrick, in May 2017 from an overdose. He was 21-years-old. He would have been a student at Pellissippi State. "He loved cars, tools, he loved his friends and family," said Jones. "He wanted to be a surgical tech. We got his acceptance letter a week after he passed away. " The Knoxville Police Department's drug overdose support group c
Families Remember Drug Overdose Victims Through Cross Painting
KNOXVILLE (WATE) - Purple crosses and purple ribbons, handmade by family members of drug overdose victims are waiting to to be put out in the community. The crosses, one for every person in Knox County who died from drug overdose since January 1st, 2018. "We're a group, we wish we had no members, we wish there was no need for our group. But it helps all of us to come together and share," said Debra Reagan, who started Listening Hearts. Reagan's son, Clint, died 13 years ago a
Running Race Against Pain
MEMPHIS — Leaning heavily on his walker, James Tuggle shuffled out of a Germantown pain clinic for the last time, trying to stay positive. A doctor had prescribed him enough Percocet to last through September, but when those pills run out, Tuggle will need to get his medicine from somewhere else. Tuggle, 67, from Whitehaven, suffers from arthritis along with a crippled knee and has for the past three years, been a patient of Comprehensive Pain Specialists, one of the largest