Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

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Painful Painkillers

Prescription drugs confiscated by the coroner's office in the past six weeks are displayed at the coroner's offices  Wednesday.

Photo by Tiffany Brown / Las Vegas Sun

Prescription drugs confiscated by the coroner's office in the past six weeks are displayed at the coroner's offices Wednesday.

A Sun investigation reveals a confounding crisis — Nevadans consume about twice the national average per capita of prescription narcotics.

Painkillers play a vital role in medicine, but experts struggle to explain why so many are consumed in Nevada.

Theories abound — the black market is thriving, tourists drive up the numbers and hurried doctors may too quickly write prescriptions.

One thing is sure: As the rate of painkiller use climbs, so too does abuse. And Clark County's overdose deaths from prescription narcotics now outnumber those from street drugs.

How we did it: Tracking Nevadans' Appetite for Painkillers

Archive highlights

When drugs bring harm not healing

Wed, Oct 15, 2008

Two days before their first wedding anniversary, Andrea Duncan woke up to find her husband, Clint, beside her, dead of a prescription drug overdose. Instead of celebrating their marriage, she ...

Her outlook darkened as her addiction deepened, journal details

Wed, Oct 15, 2008

Staci Voyda’s journal is a stark look into prescription narcotic addiction.

Patient's husband remembers her wry humor, last pain-filled weeks

Wed, Oct 15, 2008

Barbara Baile’s death was both agonizing and avoidable, leaving her husband of 50 years painfully lonely.

The painful truth about Nevada

Sun, Jul 6, 2008

The New Addiction: Part 1: Nevadans consume about twice the national average of several prescription painkillers, making us among the most narcotic-addled populations in the United States, a Sun analysis ...

All stories

Obesity drug Wegovy cut risk of serious heart problems by 20%, study finds

Sat, Nov 11, 2023

The popular weight-loss drug Wegovy reduced the risk of serious heart problems by 20% in a large, international study that experts say could change the way doctors treat certain heart ...

FDA commissioner, at expo in Las Vegas, weighs in on rise in U.S. drug shortages

Tue, Oct 17, 2023

In the past few years, the United States has seen a rise in drug shortages that’s affected groups from Type 2 diabetics needing Ozempic to improve their glycemic control to ...

Henderson’s ‘Risk it All with Fentanyl’ campaign warns teens of dangers

Wed, May 17, 2023

Last week, Henderson launched the Risk it All with Fentanyl website (riskitallwithfentanyl.com), which provides fact sheets, resources, personal stories and videos that can be shared ...

With its generic abortion pill at risk, LV-based firm sues FDA

Thu, Apr 20, 2023

A Nevada-based company that makes a majority of the abortion pill mifepristone sold in the United States sued the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday, a new legal volley in ...

Nevada rejects $26B multistate opioid pact, to seek own deal

Wed, Aug 25, 2021

Nevada has joined a small number of states rejecting a $26 billion multistate settlement reached last month with an opioid drug maker and distributors, and will seek separate compensation for ...

Fentanyl contributes to a rising death toll in Southern Nevada

Wed, Jul 29, 2020

Angelo Calabrese injured his back when he was 18 and heading to college on a football scholarship. He was prescribed pain pills for the injury. The comfort and relief from ...

Westgate Resorts owner, wife to launch ‘Victory Clubs’

Thu, Oct 31, 2019

If David Siegel knew then what he knows now about teen drug addiction, he says he could have saved his daughter’s life. “I was the dumbest person in the world ...

Lawmakers: Transparency, shining light on dark money donations key to curbing high cost of prescription drugs

Wed, Aug 21, 2019

Congresswoman Susie Lee, D-Nev., said, “There’s not many issues in this country where I think we can come together, but I do think that prescription drug pricing — it doesn’t ...

Horsford holds court on health care, trade and Trump in session with Sun editors

Thu, Aug 15, 2019

When U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford hears from his constituents, the top issue they bring up is bringing down the cost of health care. To that end, the second-term congressman is ...

Opioid epidemic touched thousands of Nevadans, costing millions of dollars, state lawsuit alleges

Thu, Jun 20, 2019

“The defendants created an unprecedented public health crisis for their own profit, and the deaths of thousands of Nevadans is on their hands. Their blatant disregard for human life shocks ...

Nevada's attorney general files a wide-ranging opioid lawsuit

Mon, Jun 17, 2019

Nevada's attorney general expanded the state's lawsuit against the maker of the opioid OxyContin on Monday to include the company's former president, his ...

Through their daughter’s dying wish, couple hopes to save kids’ lives

Sun, May 12, 2019

In their mourning, and in honor their daughter’s memory, David and Jackie Siegel have become advocates in the fight against America’s drug epidemic. Among their activities, they’ve participated in events ...

Nevada AG office posts documents on opioid lawsuit contract

Mon, May 6, 2019

Nevada's state attorney general has released documents about the hiring of his former legal firm for a potentially lucrative contract representing the state against the maker of the opioid OxyContin. ...

In Las Vegas, first lady prods media to cover opioids as much as 'gossip'

Tue, Mar 5, 2019

First lady Melania Trump prodded the news media on Tuesday to spend as much time highlighting the opioid epidemic as it devotes to "idle gossip or trivial stories." Mrs. Trump ...

Nevada AG’s office suing drugmaker over opioid claims

Tue, May 15, 2018

One of the country’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturers knowingly exaggerated claims about the effectiveness of its drugs to mislead Nevada doctors to prescribe more ...

Videos

Dr. Buckwalter, In His Own Words
Dr. Buckwalter, In His Own Words
A Deposition of Dr. Buckwalter.
Prescriptions, Pain, and Profits
Prescriptions, Pain, and Profits
Highlights from the round table- Four experts in the fields of health and public safety ...
Pharmaceutical crisis round table (uncut)
Pharmaceutical crisis round table (uncut)
Four experts in the fields of health and public safety discuss the rise of prescription ...
Face to Face: Rx for Profit?
Face to Face: Rx for Profit?
The doctor convicted of murdering a patient by overprescribing pain killers was selling the drugs ...