• Overdose deaths hit a historic high in 2020. Frustrated experts say these strategies could save lives

    Overdose deaths hit a historic high in 2020. Frustrated experts say these strategies could save lives

    Jan 13, 2022 07:58 PM EST

    ... ever in our state.” Data suggests 477 Kansans fatally overdosed that year, Machado said, up from 393 a year earlier. And in 2021, Machado suspects fentanyl drove these tragic deaths up even higher. With demand up, Machado projected that their supply of naloxone kits – budgeted to last until September – could ...

  • Why a judge rejected a settlement with the Sackler family for their role in opioid crisis

    Why a judge rejected a settlement with the Sackler family for their role in opioid crisis

    Dec 24, 2021 11:45 PM EST

    ... overdoses related to Black market opioids is at record highs, more than 100,000 deaths for the last 12-month period measured. The surge of fentanyl and synthetic opioids is a major part of all of that. Experts link this American crisis back to the original marketing and distribution of ...

  • Do safe drug consumption sites save lives? Here's what we know about NYC's new venture

    Do safe drug consumption sites save lives? Here's what we know about NYC's new venture

    Dec 13, 2021 11:25 PM EST

    Since last spring, more than 100,000 Americans have died of drug overdoses — many caused by the opioid, fentanyl. Officials are searching for solutions to try to save lives, including setting up authorized centers where people can use illegal drugs under supervision. William Brangham and his team were granted rare ...

  • Mexico's drug war fought with drones, human shields, gunships

    Mexico's drug war fought with drones, human shields, gunships

    Nov 25, 2021 06:45 PM EST

    ... want everything for themselves.” Jalisco keeps its sizeable army of troops running with a potent mixture of money — the cartel has a lot, from trafficking fentanyl and meth into the United States — and cocaine, which it flies in from Costa Rica. As the local boss stands at an impromptu street ...

  • How the pandemic is contributing to alarming rise in opioid overdose deaths

    How the pandemic is contributing to alarming rise in opioid overdose deaths

    Nov 18, 2021 11:40 PM EST

    These are people who are really suffering and who need help. And, unfortunately, it's been much easier for these individuals to access heroin or fentanyl than to access effective treatment. And it does appear that, as COVID hit, the ability to access effective treatment for opioid addiction became even ...

  • News Wrap: Overdose deaths hit record high during the pandemic

    News Wrap: Overdose deaths hit record high during the pandemic

    Nov 17, 2021 11:55 PM EST

    ... more than 100,000 in the 12 months ending last April. Health officials say the pandemic cut off drug users from treatment. They also blame fentanyl, a highly lethal opioid. Two men convicted of assassinating civil rights activist Malcolm X in New York in 1965 will have their names cleared ...

  • U.S. surpassed 100,000 overdose deaths in first year of COVID-19

    U.S. surpassed 100,000 overdose deaths in first year of COVID-19

    Nov 17, 2021 04:48 PM EST

    ... Vermont, West Virginia and Kentucky saw the nation's steepest climbs in overdose deaths. But these deaths were up across much of the country, with fentanyl linked to many of them. In September, the Department of Justice announced a crackdown on fentanyl across the U.S., noting that criminal drug ...

  • Biden picks former FDA chief Califf to again lead the agency

    Biden picks former FDA chief Califf to again lead the agency

    Nov 12, 2021 04:14 PM EST

    ... missteps in the agency’s oversight of painkillers like OxyContin, which is widely blamed for sparking the ongoing opioid epidemic, now driven by heroin and fentanyl. “If addiction to opioids and misuse of opioids is an enemy then we at the FDA — like every other part of society — underestimated the ...

  • Oklahoma court overturns $465 million opioid ruling against Johnson & Johnson

    Oklahoma court overturns $465 million opioid ruling against Johnson & Johnson

    Nov 09, 2021 06:20 PM EST

    State statistics show that from 2007 to 2017, more than 4,600 people in Oklahoma died from overdoses from opioids of all kinds, including prescription painkillers and illicit versions such as heroin and illegally made fentanyl. Nationally, opioids have been linked to more than 500,000 deaths since 2000. The ...

  • 150 people arrested in US-Europe darknet drug probe

    150 people arrested in US-Europe darknet drug probe

    Oct 26, 2021 03:39 PM EST

    ... found darknet vendors were running fake laboratories in their homes to create fake pills — designed to look like prescription pain pills — that are laced with fentanyl, methamphetamine and other illegal drugs. The operation was specifically designed to target "licit drug distributors who use the darknet to traffic these illicit drugs ...