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March 18, 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

Specialty pharmacy to create 350 permanent jobs in Las Vegas

Fri, Nov 7, 2014

Officials broke ground today on a $23 million pharmaceutical facility at UNLV’s Harry Reid Research and Technology Park. The planned two-story, 110,000-square-foot facility represents a bright spot in ...

Proposed regulations assert medical pot dispensaries linked to crime

Mon, Jun 2, 2014

Language in proposed regulations for medical marijuana businesses that links dispensaries to violent crimes and gang activity exaggerates...

Nevada lawmakers tell feds to butt out on medical marijuana

Fri, May 30, 2014

All four of Nevada's U.S. House members voted in favor of an amendment the House has passed blocking the federal government from interfering with states that permit the use of ...

Pot dispensaries come with big price tags, lots of rules

Wed, May 28, 2014

If the expense of opening a medical marijuana facility — dispensary, cultivation or production facility, or testing lab — doesn’t scare away investors, 28 pages of Las Vegas regulations might. ...

Nevada considers new rules for marijuana lawyers

Tue, May 6, 2014

A rule change allowing Nevada lawyers to advise clients about medical marijuana issues without running afoul of professional conduct standards was up for consideration Tuesday by the Nevada Supreme Court. ...

Judge, casino moguls among those seeking marijuana business licenses

Mon, May 5, 2014

Clark County revealed today the names of hundreds of people looking to get into the region’s budding medical marijuana industry. The list of applicants includes doctors, lawyers, real estate brokers, ...

Clark County receives more than 200 applications for medical pot businesses

Tue, Apr 22, 2014

Southern Nevada’s green rush is on as more than 100 businesses hurried to file medical marijuana license applications with Clark County before today’s deadline to stake out a claim in ...

Nevada OKs regulations for medical marijuana dispensaries

Fri, Mar 28, 2014

Regulations for setting up medical marijuana clinics cleared their final hurdle Friday, about a week before the law allowing the dispensaries takes effect. The Legislative Commission, without discussion...

Las Vegas to allow marijuana dispensaries; county advances pot biz process

Wed, Mar 19, 2014

A push to increase patient access to medical marijuana took a step forward today as two local governments voted to allow dispensaries and related businesses in their jurisdictions. In Clark ...

Nevada anticipates surge in people seeking medical marijuana

Fri, Mar 14, 2014

Nevada’s administrator of public health today approved regulations governing the distribution of medical marijuana, while another official anticipated a surge in those seeking cards to legally buy the drug. The ...

Commissioners get 1st look at proposed medical marijuana regulations

Wed, Mar 5, 2014

Dispensaries and other medical marijuana businesses could begin applying for licenses to set up shop in unincorporated Clark County next month, under regulations introduced to the county commission today.

Nevada not setting limit on number of marijuana growers

Wed, Feb 19, 2014

Nevada isn’t setting a limit for now on the number of people who can be licensed to grow medical marijuana for sale at dispensaries authorized last year under state law.

Lethal drug cocktail blamed in death of former prosecutor

Tue, Feb 18, 2014

A lethal but accidental combination of prescription drugs is to blame for the death of a former prosecutor late last year, the Clark County Coroner’s Office has ruled.

State senator calls out Craigslist for prescription drug sales

Mon, Sep 23, 2013

Deaths from overdoses of prescription narcotics has "reached an epidemic," says state Sen. Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, who is urging a California company to curtail its online sale of the ...

Former drug prosecutor's death was from overdose, coroner's report says

Thu, Aug 8, 2013

Former Clark County deputy district attorney David Schubert’s death was ruled a suicide due to an overdose on a cocktail of medications, according to a Clark County Coroner’s Office report.

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 ...