• Deaths from drug overdoses reach record-high levels in 2014

    Deaths from drug overdoses reach record-high levels in 2014

    Dec 18, 2015 09:59 PM EDT

    Nearly 50,000 people died from drug overdoses in the U.S. in 2014, a new record driven by the deaths of heroin addicts and people misusing prescription painkillers, according to new federal statistics. Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 47,055 drug overdose deaths, more ...

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    U.S. heroin overdose deaths more than double in two years

    Oct 04, 2014 08:29 PM EDT

    Deaths caused by heroin overdoses more than doubled between 2010 to 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. In a report released Friday, a study conducted in 28 states across the U.S. showed heroin overdoses increasing from 1,779 in 2010 to 3,635 in 2012. The ...

  • FDA approves at-home heroin overdose treatment

    FDA approves at-home heroin overdose treatment

    Apr 03, 2014 03:49 PM EDT

    ... a device that automatically injects the right dose of the drug naloxone, a long-used antidote for opioid overdoses. Nalaxone has been a mainstay of overdose treatment for years, usually administered by syringe in ambulances or emergency rooms. But with the rise in drug overdose deaths, there has been a ...

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    VA's opiate overload feeds veterans' addictions, leading to overdose deaths

    Oct 03, 2013 09:30 PM EDT

    ... weekend with a cocktail of 19 prescription medications, including 12 tablets of highly addictive oxycodone. Three hours later, Waggoner, 32, was dead of a drug overdose, slumped in a heap in front of his room at the Sleep Inn motel. "As a parent, you'd want to know how this ...

  • 'Ketamine Queen' gets 15 years in prison for selling Matthew Perry the drugs that killed him

    'Ketamine Queen' gets 15 years in prison for selling Matthew Perry the drugs that killed him

    Apr 08, 2026 08:05 PM EDT

    ... about her self-improvement. The 42-year-old became the third defendant sentenced of the five people who have pleaded guilty in connection with the overdose of the 54-year-old actor. His role as Chandler Bing on NBC’s “Friends” in the 1990s and 2000s made him one of ...

  • People in recovery find a fresh start by crafting Troublesome Creek instruments

    People in recovery find a fresh start by crafting Troublesome Creek instruments

    Apr 06, 2026 10:15 PM EDT

    ... Creek Stringed Instrument Co.: Opioids, methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl, I have done it all. Went into this rehab that got me into this place on a overdose, prison, back, prison again. Jeffrey Brown: After landing in rehab, he pushed hard to start learning guitar making at Troublesome Creek. Brian Owens: I ...

  • Fact-checking key moments in Bondi's tenure as Trump's attorney general

    Fact-checking key moments in Bondi's tenure as Trump's attorney general

    Apr 03, 2026 09:37 PM EDT

    ... from opioid overdoses each year is in the tens of thousands. Drug experts say 119 million people in the U.S. do not consume fentanyl or illicit drugs that may be laced with fentanyl; people who do not consume illicit drugs are not at risk of dying of an overdose.

  • U.S. military kills 6 in another strike on alleged drug boat in the Eastern Pacific

    U.S. military kills 6 in another strike on alleged drug boat in the Eastern Pacific

    Mar 09, 2026 04:36 PM EDT

    ... Middle East. Critics have questioned the overall legality of the boat strikes as well as their effectiveness, in part because the fentanyl behind many fatal overdoses is typically trafficked to the U.S. over land from Mexico, where it is produced with chemicals imported from China and India.The boat ...

  • WATCH: RFK Jr. and others launch new addiction and homelessness initiative

    WATCH: RFK Jr. and others launch new addiction and homelessness initiative

    Feb 02, 2026 09:09 PM EDT

    ... that strengthen the mental health and substance use treatment system and provide greater support for providers on the ground,” he said.Federal data shows that overdose deaths fell through most of last year, suggesting a lasting improvement in an epidemic that had been worsening for decades. Still, that decline was ...

  • Fact-checking Trump’s marathon press briefing at one-year mark of his second term

    Fact-checking Trump’s marathon press briefing at one-year mark of his second term

    Jan 20, 2026 11:59 PM EDT

    ... more than 2 million jobs overall, compared with 473,000 in 2025 under Trump. Trump said 300,000 people died last year because of fentanyl overdoses, but that’s far above the most recent federal data. In the 12 months before August 2025, about 69,000 people in the U ...