• Patrick Kennedy’s new book tells personal stories of mental health in America

    Patrick Kennedy’s new book tells personal stories of mental health in America

    May 05, 2024 09:30 PM EST

    And we like finite, very linear descriptions. And for us as a nation, we know all the statistics are horrendous suicide going up, overdose going up. But what we don't have is a sense of what does this really mean like in real people's lives? How do they ...

  • Paul Auster, celebrated and experimental author, dies at 77

    Paul Auster, celebrated and experimental author, dies at 77

    May 01, 2024 04:55 PM EST

    ... had a son, Daniel, from an earlier marriage to the author-translator Lydia Davis. Daniel Auster would struggle with drug addiction and die of an overdose in 2022, shortly after being charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of his infant daughter, Ruby. Paul Auster never commented publicly on ...

  • Supreme Court hears case on whether cities can criminalize homelessness, disband camps

    Supreme Court hears case on whether cities can criminalize homelessness, disband camps

    Apr 22, 2024 10:40 PM EST

    ... City of Grants Pass, Oregon: In Grants Pass, in a tent on the little league field, a dead body was found, believed to be an overdose. This is a very real crisis. And people are dying on our streets. We think it's safer and better for people to avoid ...

  • Recovery community helping Kentucky town rebound from economic decline and addiction

    Recovery community helping Kentucky town rebound from economic decline and addiction

    Apr 19, 2024 10:30 PM EST

    Sam Quinones: I knew of Hazard, Kentucky only, as a place of terrible devastation due to the opioid epidemic. Jeffrey Brown : More than 100,000 Americans are still dying every year from drug overdose, fueled largely by the synthetic opioid fentanyl. It's a problem that continues to plague towns ...

  • News Wrap: First 7 jurors chosen to serve in Trump's criminal hush money trial

    News Wrap: First 7 jurors chosen to serve in Trump's criminal hush money trial

    Apr 16, 2024 10:51 PM EST

    ... chaos and devastation that has resulted from this epidemic. And, yes, that means more dead Americans. Geoff Bennett: Fentanyl is a leading cause of drug overdoses in the U.S., killing an average of 200 Americans each day. Federal regulators issued new protections today for coal miners against so-called ...

  • House panel says China subsidizes fentanyl production to fuel crisis in the U.S.

    House panel says China subsidizes fentanyl production to fuel crisis in the U.S.

    Apr 16, 2024 08:49 PM EST

    ... The report’s findings were released Tuesday as part of a hearing examining China’s role in the fentanyl epidemic in the U.S. Most overdose deaths in the U.S. continue to be linked to fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. Inexpensive fentanyl is increasingly cut into other drugs, often ...

  • Oregon governor signs a bill recriminalizing drug possession

    Oregon governor signs a bill recriminalizing drug possession

    Apr 01, 2024 10:52 PM EST

    ... struggled to stand up the new treatment system, state auditors found. At the same time, the fentanyl crisis began to spark an increase in deadly overdoses. Those pressures prompted Oregon Democrats to shift their stance on decriminalization policy in recent months. Some who historically supported the measure voted for the ...

  • Police tactics meant to stop people often ends up killing them, investigation reveals

    Police tactics meant to stop people often ends up killing them, investigation reveals

    Mar 29, 2024 10:40 PM EST

    ... of cases, the location was actually the homes of those who died, and that was because sometimes they were having medical emergencies, like potential drug overdoses, and their families were calling 911 to get medical assistance. And the cops arrived. And in order to try to control the person to ...

  • No charges to be filed in fight involving Oklahoma nonbinary teen Nex Benedict

    No charges to be filed in fight involving Oklahoma nonbinary teen Nex Benedict

    Mar 21, 2024 10:59 PM EST

    ... say what the note said. The state medical examiner determined last week that Benedict’s death in February was a suicide caused by a drug overdose. “An important part of the Owasso Police Department's investigation was the discovery of some brief notes, written by Benedict, which appeared to be ...

  • Death of nonbinary Oklahoma teen after school fight ruled a suicide, officials say

    Death of nonbinary Oklahoma teen after school fight ruled a suicide, officials say

    Mar 13, 2024 10:02 PM EST

    ... report shows 16-year-old Nex Benedict, who used they/them pronouns, had toxic levels of two drugs in their system and died of an overdose. A complete autopsy will be released in 10 days in accordance with state law, the medical examiner's office said. “From the beginning of ...