After pushing for tighter restrictions of prescribed narcotics and attempting to block a "super painkiller" ten times more powerful than Vicoden, Senator Chuck Schumer wants to allocate $140 million in federal funding towards developing a test that would catch drivers who are under the influence of drugs. "If people next year knew they'd be tested for drugged driving just like they are tested for drunk driving, it might deter them from doing it to begin with and save lives," Schumer told the AP. more ›

According to Department of Health prescription data, doctors wrote one prescription for the painkiller oxycodone for every four or five Staten Islanders last year. Many of the 115,000 prescriptions are refills, but they make Richmond county the second highest for painkiller prescriptions in the state. Luke Nasta, the executive director of Camelot Counseling Services, told the Staten Island Advance, "It's startling. Even to me, the number's startling. I think the vast majority of that is being used for recreational use and to feed addictions." more ›

NYC's drinking water is touted as some of the cleanest in the nation, and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo wants to keep it that way. He's reached "groundbreaking" settlements with five facilities who were dumping and flushing their unused painkillers, antibiotics, anti-depressants and hormones down sinks and toilets that led to the NY City watershed. Two hospitals and three nursing homes are now being forced to dispose of their pharmaceutical waste properly, and pay to increase public awareness on the issue of water contamination. more ›

The U.S. Attorney's Office won't need Mary-Kate Olsen to testify because it has closed its investigation into how Heath Ledger obtained painkillers which contributed to his death. Rumors swirled about MKO's involvement and how she would only talk if given immunity, leading her lawyer to proclaim, "Mary-Kate Olsen had nothing whatsoever to do with the drugs found in Heath Ledger's home or his body, and she does not know where he obtained them" and that she had cooperated with the government. A source summed up the feds' interest in the actress to the Daily News, "We don't know where [Ledger] got the other narcotics. No one interviewed suggested (Olsen) gave him the drugs. But (Olsen) may have known where the drugs came from." more ›