• The opioid crisis affects dogs, too. Here’s how police officers protect K-9 partners from overdoses

    The opioid crisis affects dogs, too. Here’s how police officers protect K-9 partners from overdoses

    Nov 28, 2017 11:20 PM EDT

    Canine police units sniff out suspects, missing people and guns, but they can also encounter potentially lethal opioids like heroin or fentanyl. In light of the national opioid crisis, some officers are getting Narcan training in case their dogs inhale or ingest dangerous substances during searches. Special correspondent Tina Martin of WGBH reports.

  • This app tracks drug overdoses in real time

    This app tracks drug overdoses in real time

    Nov 14, 2017 11:33 AM EDT

    ... and other collateral effects of the opioid epidemic. Indiana, for example, is working on a statewide, multi-agency database that includes information on pharmacy robberies, overdose-related ambulance calls and the use of the opioid overdose antidote naloxone. Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Virginia have declared the opioid ...

  • Synthetic opioids are driving an overdose crisis

    Synthetic opioids are driving an overdose crisis

    Oct 11, 2017 11:43 PM EDT

    ... Dr. Gaeta says it's about giving people in the throes of addiction a place to go before they find themselves in a full-blown overdose and in need of an ambulance. Kelsey first came to SPOT last year. Today, she says she's alive and in treatment because of ...

  • Sessions: Drug overdoses 'the top lethal issue' in the U.S.

    Sessions: Drug overdoses 'the top lethal issue' in the U.S.

    Aug 29, 2017 05:52 PM EDT

    GREEN BAY, Wis. — Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday called drug overdose deaths "the top lethal issue" in the U.S. and urged law enforcement and social workers to "create and foster a culture that's hostile to drug use." Sessions spoke to the annual conference of the National Alliance ...

  • Heroin overdoses killed 3 times as many teens in 2015 than in 1999

    Heroin overdoses killed 3 times as many teens in 2015 than in 1999

    Aug 16, 2017 07:02 PM EDT

    ... percent of overdose deaths among teens in 2015 were unintentional. Deaths among males were 70 percent higher than their female counterparts in 2015, but intentional overdoses were significantly higher among girls (21.9 percent of all overdose deaths), compared to their male counterparts (8.7 percent). [WATCH: Trump vows to ...

  • Baltimore turns to a life-saving opioid overdose antidote, but it's no cure for the crisis

    Baltimore turns to a life-saving opioid overdose antidote, but it's no cure for the crisis

    Mar 02, 2017 12:34 AM EDT

    With overdose deaths from opioids on the rise across the country, Baltimore has begun training everyday citizens to use a life-saving antidote as one tool to combat the crisis, and the approach is catching on. But while many more states and municipalities have moved to make Naloxone more accessible, not everyone believes this is the...

  • Concerns grow as fentanyl fuels rise in opioid overdose deaths

    Concerns grow as fentanyl fuels rise in opioid overdose deaths

    Aug 06, 2016 08:59 PM EDT

    ... deaths involving prescription opioids have quadrupled since 1999, as have the sales of such drugs.  In 2014 alone, more than 14,000 people died from overdoses involving drugs such as methadone, oxycodone and hydrocodone. And today, at least half of all overdose deaths involve a prescription opioid.  There is another ...

  • 'It's like zombieland over here'; 33 suspected of K2 overdose in New York City

    'It's like zombieland over here'; 33 suspected of K2 overdose in New York City

    Jul 13, 2016 09:30 PM EDT

    More than 30 people in Brooklyn were hospitalized Tuesday because of suspected overdoses on synthetic marijuana, despite New York’s statewide efforts to crack down on the drug The New York Times reported. Police said witnesses saw some people in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn smoking synthetic marijuana, otherwise ...

  • Prince’s fentanyl overdose gives new urgency to opioid epidemic

    Prince’s fentanyl overdose gives new urgency to opioid epidemic

    Jun 02, 2016 11:17 PM EDT

    ... HARI SREENIVASAN: But first: the opioid epidemic and the problems of treatment. Law enforcement officials told the Associated Press and The Minneapolis Star-Tribune today that music legend Prince died from an accidental opioid overdose in April. The superstar, according to reports, self-administered fentanyl, a synthetic opioid painkiller ...

  • Prince died of an opioid overdose, autopsy reveals

    Prince died of an opioid overdose, autopsy reveals

    Jun 02, 2016 04:24 PM EDT

    An autopsy shows that singer and musician Prince died of an opioid overdose at his studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota, on April 21, the Associated Press reported. Minnesota health officials said the singer accidentally overdosed on fentanyl, a substance used in painkiller medications. The Midwest Medical Examiner's Office, based in ...