• WATCH: House Oversight hearing on federal response to drug addiction and overdose crisis

    WATCH: House Oversight hearing on federal response to drug addiction and overdose crisis

    Jun 27, 2022 05:27 PM EDT

    ... first,” said Gupta.CDC data released in May indicates that deaths from drug overdoses in the U.S. reached a record-high in 2021. More than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021, the highest annual death toll ever recorded. Deaths from fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine rose sharply.

  • WATCH: House Homeland Security committee hearing on DHS efforts against opioid epidemic

    WATCH: House Homeland Security committee hearing on DHS efforts against opioid epidemic

    May 18, 2022 06:11 PM EDT

    ... increase began in the 1990s with overdoses involving opioid painkillers, followed by waves of deaths led by other opioids like heroin and — most recently — illicit fentanyl. Last year, overdoses involving fentanyl and other synthetic opioids surpassed 71,000, up 23 percent from the year before. There also was a 23 ...

  • Overdose deaths in the U.S. reached record levels in 2021

    Overdose deaths in the U.S. reached record levels in 2021

    May 11, 2022 10:25 PM EDT

    ... effective medication for reversing overdoses, Narcan or naloxone, which works if you're overdosing with opioids. But if you're overdosing with methamphetamine contaminated with fentanyl, naloxone does not -- is not as effective, will not be effective if you're -- if what you have is a combination of toxicity. So ...

  • CDC says more than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021, setting 'staggering' record

    CDC says more than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021, setting 'staggering' record

    May 11, 2022 03:51 PM EDT

    ... increase began in the 1990s with overdoses involving opioid painkillers, followed by waves of deaths led by other opioids like heroin and — most recently — illicit fentanyl. Last year, overdoses involving fentanyl and other synthetic opioids surpassed 71,000, up 23 percent from the year before. There also was a 23 ...

  • Biden administration defends border policies as the battle over Title 42 heats up

    Biden administration defends border policies as the battle over Title 42 heats up

    Apr 27, 2022 10:40 PM EDT

    ... to rescue some migrants, and also for those migrants. There's a lot of concern about traffickers, smugglers, that we have seen an increase in fentanyl seizures, about 50 percent in a year. There's real concern about drug trafficking and whether that there is enough control over an expected ...

  • White House will push ‘harm reduction’ in latest fight against drug overdoses

    White House will push ‘harm reduction’ in latest fight against drug overdoses

    Apr 21, 2022 10:25 PM EDT

    ... free. It has to be easier to get treatment, particularly with a medicine called buprenorphine, than it is to find a bag of heroin or fentanyl. William Brangham: But do we have enough beds, enough practitioners, enough buprenorphine to stem this crisis? I mean, the administration says they want to ...

  • Doctor who prescribed enough painkillers to 'kill an elephant' found not guilty in 14 patient deaths

    Doctor who prescribed enough painkillers to 'kill an elephant' found not guilty in 14 patient deaths

    Apr 20, 2022 06:00 PM EDT

    ... over the deaths of at least 17 patients, with more lawsuits pending. One patient, 82-year-old Melissa Penix, was given 2,000 micrograms of fentanyl and died a few minutes later. Dr. John Schweig of Tampa Bay General Hospital testified for the prosecution that Penix “definitely was not terminal ...

  • COVID helped make 2021 the deadliest year in U.S. history

    COVID helped make 2021 the deadliest year in U.S. history

    Apr 12, 2022 05:19 PM EDT

    ... adolescents experienced a greater relative increase than the overall population, even though surveys suggest drug use among teens is down. Experts attributed the spike to fentanyl, a highly lethal drug that has been cut into heroin for several years. More recently it’s also been pressed into counterfeit pills resembling ...

  • After years of pain, opioid crisis victims confront Sackler family in court

    After years of pain, opioid crisis victims confront Sackler family in court

    Mar 10, 2022 05:40 PM EDT

    ... prescription drugs and then, as prescriptions became harder to obtain and some drugs became harder to manipulate for a quick high, from heroin. More recently, fentanyl and similar drugs have become the biggest killer.Purdue has twice pleaded guilty to criminal charges, but no members of the Sackler family have ...

  • LISTEN: Supreme Court justices seem to favor doctors in case over pain pill prescription convictions

    LISTEN: Supreme Court justices seem to favor doctors in case over pain pill prescription convictions

    Mar 01, 2022 02:57 PM EDT

    ... 2015, prosecutors said. Kahn was convicted of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substances resulting in death, including oxycodone, an opioid pain reliever, and fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. Jessica Burch, of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, was a patient of Kahn’s who died from an overdose in 2015. He ...