• 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 ...

  • 22 artists, scientists and authors selected for $800,000 MacArthur 'genius' grants

    22 artists, scientists and authors selected for $800,000 MacArthur 'genius' grants

    Oct 09, 2025 10:55 PM EDT

    ... Chicago number, which then called again. It was the MacArthur Foundation. They were awarding him the fellowship in recognition of his work, which includes helping to start a testing program for street drugs to identify unregulated substances and helping to overcome a shortage of naloxone, which reverses an opioid overdose.

  • LISTEN: Supreme Court hears case on Colorado’s conversion therapy ban

    LISTEN: Supreme Court hears case on Colorado’s conversion therapy ban

    Oct 06, 2025 07:44 PM EDT

    ... him to blame himself when it didn’t work, leaving him ashamed and depressed. He died in 2009, after multiple suicide attempts and a drug overdose at age 20. “What happened in conversion therapy, it devastated Ryan’s bond with me and my husband," she said. “And it absolutely destroyed ...

  • Medicare, FEMA and air traffic control: How a government shutdown could impact public services

    Medicare, FEMA and air traffic control: How a government shutdown could impact public services

    Sep 30, 2025 08:33 PM EDT

    ... will stop include research into health risks and ways to prevent illness, communications with the public, and work to help state and local officials prevent overdose deaths or other health problems, according to a federal planning document. NIH research would stall, with patients immediately affected Research and patient care at ...

  • Drug enforcement is rarely a focus of the U.N. General Assembly. This year is different

    Drug enforcement is rarely a focus of the U.N. General Assembly. This year is different

    Sep 25, 2025 10:14 PM EDT

    ... politics at its biggest, so even as some components of the world body deal with drug enforcement, others emphasize public health programs — substance abuse treatment, overdose prevention and other services — over prohibition and punishments. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has advocated for decriminalizing at least ...

  • Republican Brad Raffensperger to run for Georgia governor after defying Trump over 2020 election

    Republican Brad Raffensperger to run for Georgia governor after defying Trump over 2020 election

    Sep 17, 2025 04:53 PM EDT

    ... 2018 on a platform that emphasized managerial competence. During that race, one of his three sons, Brenton Raffensperger, died at age 27 from a fentanyl overdose. He spent most of his first two years in office battling lawsuits filed by Democrats that fruitlessly alleged Georgia, under then-Secretary of State ...

  • Hegseth visits Puerto Rico as U.S. steps up military operations in the Caribbean

    Hegseth visits Puerto Rico as U.S. steps up military operations in the Caribbean

    Sep 08, 2025 08:01 PM EDT

    ... Nations and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, added that Venezuela “has absolutely nothing to do with the deaths of (U.S.) citizens from drug overdoses” as the country “is not relevant” in global drug production. She suggested the U.S. should focus on fighting consumption within its borders. “There ...