• McKinsey & Company agrees to pay nearly $600 million over opioid crisis

    McKinsey & Company agrees to pay nearly $600 million over opioid crisis

    Feb 04, 2021 07:57 PM EDT

    ... raging overdose and addiction crisis that has deepened during the coronavirus pandemic. Opioids, which include prescription drugs and illegal substances such as heroin and illicit fentanyl, have been linked to more than 470,000 deaths in the U.S. since 2000. "Even though no amount of money can bring back ...

  • What's behind the historic spike in drug overdose deaths under COVID-19

    What's behind the historic spike in drug overdose deaths under COVID-19

    Dec 28, 2020 09:55 PM EDT

    ... in May, marking the largest monthly increases since 2015 when the federal government began collecting this data. As in recent years, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and carfentanil drove most overdose deaths, and increased by 38 percent between June 2019 and May 2020. All of these estimates are likely an ...

  • U.S. deaths in 2020 top 3 million

    U.S. deaths in 2020 top 3 million

    Dec 22, 2020 06:31 PM EDT

    ... medication. But perhaps a bigger factor are the drugs themselves: COVID-19 caused supply problems for dealers, so they are increasingly mixing cheap and deadly fentanyl into heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine, experts said. “I don't suspect there are a bunch of new people who suddenly started using drugs because ...

  • How court-ordered drug testing poses impossible choices

    How court-ordered drug testing poses impossible choices

    Dec 08, 2020 05:13 PM EDT

    ... said Davis, rather than failing someone because of one missed test or positive result. Case workers intervene immediately if someone tests positive for heroin or fentanyl due to the risk of overdose, he said. “What we discovered is that, if clients are not showing up for drug tests, it’s ...

  • Money promised to combat U.S. overdose crisis sits unused

    Money promised to combat U.S. overdose crisis sits unused

    Nov 25, 2020 06:21 PM EDT

    ... you just gave it to a state agency,” said Cichowicz, whose twin brother, Scott Zebrowski, fatally overdosed in 2017 on a counterfeit OxyContin pill containing fentanyl. The former gym manager was 38. Cichowicz, who lives in Richmond, Virginia, said her brother became addicted after being prescribed OxyContin for back pain ...

  • Judge dismisses 1 charge against former cop in Floyd’s death

    Judge dismisses 1 charge against former cop in Floyd’s death

    Oct 22, 2020 04:09 PM EDT

    ... Defense attorneys said Floyd’s drug use was a factor in his death, with Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, saying Floyd most likely died of “fentanyl or a combination of fentanyl and methamphetamine in concert with his underlying health conditions.” The county medical examiner classified Floyd’s death as a ...

  • Where Trump and Biden stand on dealing with China

    Where Trump and Biden stand on dealing with China

    Oct 21, 2020 10:35 PM EDT

    ... Well, of course it has. He focused initially on economic security. He said he was going to increase the number of American jobs, cut back fentanyl imports. He had quite a long agenda for China that came out of the campaign. And I think he just delivered on those campaign ...

  • Worsening opioid crisis overshadowed in presidential race

    Worsening opioid crisis overshadowed in presidential race

    Oct 21, 2020 06:03 PM EDT

    ... said. Despite the commission's 56 policy recommendations, the Trump administration has focused most of its efforts on law enforcement to stop the flow of fentanyl, produced mostly in Mexico and China and smuggled into the U.S. Seizures have increased during Trump’s presidency, and experts cite the drug ...

  • Justice Department says OxyContin maker will plead guilty to 3 criminal charges

    Justice Department says OxyContin maker will plead guilty to 3 criminal charges

    Oct 21, 2020 03:35 PM EDT

    ... of more OxyContin to fund programs to mitigate the toll of an opioid crisis wrought by prescription drugs as well as heroin and illicitly produced fentanyl. With the terms of the Justice Department deal, the federal government gives a strong endorsement to the idea of a version of Purdue continuing ...

  • The top U.S. diplomat in Beijing on why he supports Trump's China policy

    The top U.S. diplomat in Beijing on why he supports Trump's China policy

    Sep 29, 2020 10:30 PM EDT

    ... us more fairness and reciprocity and address issues like protecting intellectual property rights and preventing the involuntary taking of technology. We have also addressed the fentanyl issue, in which China has made all of fentanyl and its derivatives controlled substances. And I believe that is saving lives in America, and ...