Who Writes the Prescriptions
Last year, 12,139 medical professionals wrote prescriptions in Oklahoma for controlled dangerous substances. A relatively small number of doctors wrote tens of thousands of prescriptions each. Medical...
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Grieving Mother, Lawmaker Led Fight for Methadone Prescription Checks
Oklahoma HouseThe late Rep. Sue Tibbs, R-Tulsa Carol Bolding in 2009. Oklahoma’s required methadone checks are largely the legacy of Carol Bolding of Tulsa and her advocate in the Legislature, the late...
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Narcotic Prescriptions Fall in States With Required ‘Doctor-Shopping’ Checks
When the state of Kentucky decided two years ago to require doctors to check their patients’ drug-taking histories before writing new narcotic prescriptions, some physicians were adamantly opposed. The...
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New Law Requires Reporting of Prescription Overdose Victims
The Oklahoma medical examiner will begin directly reporting the names of overdose victims to the state narcotics agency, which will then use the data to more closely track the state’s prescription drug...
View ArticleDoctors, Fallin’s Office Face Off Over Prescription Checks
Oklahoma’s doctors declared a deadlock Thursday in negotiations over a legislative proposal that would require them to check an online database before writing narcotic prescriptions. A coalition of...
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Health Officials Call Doctors ‘Selfish’ for Opposing Prescription Monitoring...
Oklahoma Watch and The Oklahoman are collaborating on a series of stories about the state's prescription-drug abuse problem. Oklahoma physicians are being "selfish and short-sighted" by opposing...
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Prospects Uncertain for Prescription-Monitoring Bill
Gov. Mary Fallin’s office and key lawmakers battled Wednesday to prevent the death of a bill intended to crack down of prescription drug abuse, but its prospects appeared shaky as the 2014 session...
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Bill Aimed at Lowering Prescription Drug-Abuse Deaths Fails to Pass
Despite an intensive last minute push by supporters, including Gov. Mary Fallin, who lobbied lawmakers in person and by telephone, a bill intended to crack down on prescription drug abuse failed to win...
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Meth Deaths Climb Despite Sharp Drop in Labs
Although fewer numbers of methamphetamine labs are being discovered across the state, the number of meth-related overdose deaths continues to rise. Last year, 167 people died of meth-related overdoses,...
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Overdose Deaths Level Off
Oklahoma's overdose death toll dipped slightly in 2013, but state drug law enforcers say it's too soon to celebrate. The 2013 overdose death count was 821, compared with 850 the previous year,...
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Living With Pain Means Difficult Choices
Photo provided.Chronic pain patients Kyle Spuruell, David Byers, Constance Durkin, Gary Hoyle, Robert Wiley, Sylvia Myers and Julie Bridges show their support for chronic pain sufferers in honor of...
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Profiting from Pain: Roland Clinic Draws Scrutiny
Anny Sivilay / Sequoyah County TimesThe Wellness Clinic in Roland, Okla., has come under scrutiny from narcotics and medical-board officials. This story is part of a joint project by Oklahoma Watch...
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Profiting from Pain: Clinics Help Fuel Prescription Pill Epidemic
This story, part of a joint project by Oklahoma Watch and The Oklahoman, is by Andrew Knittle and Phillip O'Connor of The Oklahoman and Warren Vieth of Oklahoma Watch. In August, when former...
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Son’s Drug Overdose Was ‘Ugly’ Death
Aaron Smoot lay in his bed, eyes open, stone cold to the touch, dead of an overdose. Divorced and often depressed, Smoot had been sick for some time. His family had not seen or heard from him for days....
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Dying, and Calling for Help
Chris Landsberger / The OklahomanMichelle Casson of Del City holds a photo of her son Sashawn Saatian, who died from a drug overdose last year. SaShawn Saatian died alone of an overdose in a cheap west...
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Mothers Blames Doctors, Pain Clinics for Daughter’s Death
A back injury six years ago led Carie Marie Simmons into a life of prescription drugs, addiction and, eventually, an early death, her mother says. But Helen Broadbooks, 63, of Lexington, also blames...
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Disturbances, Thefts Are Common at Vista Clinic
Vista Medical Center is a frequent stop for Oklahoma City police. Department records show officers responded to the clinic at 3700 S. Western 57 times between April 1, 2003, and June 2, 2014, on calls...
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State Says Doc’s Pain Pill Prescriptions Were ‘Red Flags’
Anny Sivilay / Sequoyah County TimesDr. Ronald V. Myers Sr. The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs on Wednesday began presenting its case against a Sequoyah County doctor who it says...
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Compromise Bill Requires Prescription Checks
Gov. Mary Fallin and key lawmakers are pushing new legislation this year that would require Oklahoma doctors to check an online database before writing prescriptions for addictive painkillers and other...
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