• 5 people, including 2 doctors, charged in 'Friends' star Matthew Perry's death

    5 people, including 2 doctors, charged in 'Friends' star Matthew Perry's death

    Aug 15, 2024 08:07 PM EDT

    ... megahit sitcom. Drug-related celebrity deaths have in other cases led authorities to prosecute the people who supplied them. After rapper Mac Millerdied from an overdose of cocaine, alcohol and counterfeit oxycodone that contained fentanyl, two of the men who provided him the fentanyl were convicted of distributing the drug ...

  • COVID-19 falls from No. 4 to No. 10 cause of death in U.S.

    COVID-19 falls from No. 4 to No. 10 cause of death in U.S.

    Aug 08, 2024 06:31 PM EDT

    ... dropped to fourth in 2022. — The leading causes of death were heart disease, cancer and a category of injuries that includes gun deaths and drug overdoses. — There were nearly 3.1 million deaths last year in the U.S., down from 3.3 million in 2022. For many years before ...

  • News Wrap: 1 dead in Colorado's Stone Canyon wildfire

    News Wrap: 1 dead in Colorado's Stone Canyon wildfire

    Jul 31, 2024 10:40 PM EDT

    ... on small packages coming into the U.S. That would close a loophole often used to import the substances used to make illicit fentanyl. Fentanyl overdoses are a leading cause of death for Americans age 18 to 45. In South Carolina, death by firing squad is now a legal method ...

  • Who is 'El Mayo' Zambada, the Sinaloa drug cartel leader now in U.S. custody?

    Who is 'El Mayo' Zambada, the Sinaloa drug cartel leader now in U.S. custody?

    Jul 27, 2024 03:56 PM EDT

    In its 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment, the Drug Enforcement Agency calls fentanyl the most urgent drug threat in the U.S. and says it and other synthetic opioids were responsible for about 70% of the 107,941 fatal overdoses in the country in 2022. “The Justice Department will not ...

  • Live updates: Trump speaks at the Republican National Convention Night 4

    Live updates: Trump speaks at the Republican National Convention Night 4

    Jul 18, 2024 05:18 PM EDT

    ... is there for you.” Describing pain that was “unbearable,” Steve Wifcoff told of Trump’s outreach after the man’s son died of an opioid overdose. “That’s who he is,” Steven Witcoff said. ‘Could it be that Jesus Christ preserved him for a time such as this?’ The pastor ...

  • Fact-checking Day 2 of the 2024 RNC

    Fact-checking Day 2 of the 2024 RNC

    Jul 17, 2024 05:40 PM EDT

    True. Drug overdose deaths have reached new highs during the Biden administration, a continuation of a trend that started under Barack Obama and continued under Trump. Fundner’s 15-year-old son, Weston, died from a fentanyl overdose in February 2022, she told the crowd. https://youtu.be/ITZRv-p4DLI ...

  • Live updates: After Trump makes entrance as official nominee, GOP convention begins second day

    Live updates: After Trump makes entrance as official nominee, GOP convention begins second day

    Jul 16, 2024 01:33 PM EDT

    As part of the convention’s ‘Make America Safe Again’ session, family members of those who have lost loved ones to fentanyl overdose appeared back-to-back on the RNC stage to make the forceful and at time emotional case for why Trump would fix the epidemic. Michael Morin, the ...

  • Supreme Court blocks Purdue settlement in major blow to local governments fighting opioids

    Supreme Court blocks Purdue settlement in major blow to local governments fighting opioids

    Jun 27, 2024 10:53 PM EDT

    ... Brian, it's worth underscoring here what you have reported on for a long time, that more than 300,000 Americans have died from opioid overdoses since the year 2000. Just briefly remind us about the roles played by Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family in the making of that ...

  • Supreme Court rejects nationwide settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma

    Supreme Court rejects nationwide settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma

    Jun 27, 2024 02:18 PM EDT

    ... the Stamford, Connecticut-based company became synonymous with the crisis, even though the majority of pills being prescribed and used were generic drugs. Opioid-related overdose deaths have continued to climb, hitting 80,000 in recent years. Most of those are from fentanyl and other synthetic drugs. The Purdue Pharma ...

  • Hunter Biden trial highlights experience of Americans struggling with addiction

    Hunter Biden trial highlights experience of Americans struggling with addiction

    Jun 12, 2024 10:40 PM EDT

    ... the country. But to put this in context, we're still at a point where more than 100,000 Americans die every year of drug overdose. Teen overdoses -- I take care of teenagers in my clinic who struggle with addiction. Teen overdoses are at an all-time high and now ...