fentanyl

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This One Stat Shows Severity of Opioid Crisis
This One Stat Shows
Severity of Opioid Crisis
in case you missed it

This One Stat Shows Severity of Opioid Crisis

Overdoses are leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 50

(Newser) - Just how bad is the opioid crisis in the US? So bad that drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death for people under 50, the New York Times reports. State and county death records reveal an estimated 62,500 people died from drug overdoses last year, 19% more...

2 Counselors Fatally OD at Facility for Recovering Addicts

They were found in their bedrooms at Pa. lodge

(Newser) - "If anybody is wondering how bad the opioid epidemic has become, this case is a frightening example," said Chester County DA Tom Hogan after two drug counselors fatally overdosed at a Pennsylvania facility for recovering addicts. Residents at the Freedom Ridge Recovery Lodge found the counselors, who lived...

Cop Suffers Accidental OD in Fentanyl Drug Bust

Officer in East Liverpool, Ohio, got some on his skin but is now OK

(Newser) - A police officer in Ohio got a lesson the hard way on just how potent the opioid fentanyl can be. The East Liverpool department says officer Chris Green got some of the powder on his skin after a drug bust and suffered an accidental overdose, reports WFMJ . He ended up...

Mom Shares Pic of Dying Son as a Plea
Mom Shares Pic
of Dying Son
as a Plea
in case you missed it

Mom Shares Pic of Dying Son as a Plea

A Canadian woman says her son who overdosed on fentanyl was not an addict

(Newser) - One mother in Canada is taking the heartbreak of losing her son to a fentanyl overdose and turning it into a poignant PSA on the dangers of the synthetic opioid. In a Facebook post, Sherri Kent shared a photo of her holding her dying 22-year-old son, Michael Kent, in his...

A Year Later, Big Questions Remain on Prince's Death

'New York Times' takes a look as anniversary nears

(Newser) - April 21 will mark one year since Prince's death at age 57, and the New York Times takes a look at the mysteries that still linger. The biggest one: Where did Prince get the fentanyl that killed him? Fentanyl, an opioid that is cheaper to produce than heroin but...

Young Parents Fatally OD, Are Discovered by Their Kids

Spirit Airlines pilot Brian Halye and wife Courtney were in their 30s

(Newser) - Another wrenching story chalked up to opioids: A husband and wife in their 30s were found dead in their bedroom by their four children, reports NBC News . Police in Centerville, Ohio, received a 911 call about Brian Halye, 36, and his wife, Courtney, 34, Thursday morning from one of the...

After Husband ODs in Van, News Gets Worse at His Home

Cops say his wife OD'd, too, though both survive

(Newser) - Cops say a 29-year-old Ohio man crashed his minivan—with an infant in the backseat—while suffering a drug overdose, reports Fox 8 . Both survived, but the story then takes a turn for the worse: When officers arrived at Nathan Carroll's Lorain home to tell his wife what happened,...

K9 Units Are Falling Victim to Powerful, Dangerous Drug

Police dogs are more susceptible than humans to dangers of fentanyl

(Newser) - Police officers conducting drug raids with their K9 units are now dealing with what the DEA has called an "unprecedented threat": fentanyl, the same powerful opioid that killed Prince earlier this year. Both the Miami Herald and NBC News report on the drug's dangers, which the cop canines...

Drug Bust Like 'Something Out of Science Fiction Movie'

'It would be very safe to say people have died from this operation'

(Newser) - Officials are calling it the largest seizure of pills and one of the largest drug busts in Utah history. DEA agents raided a home in Cottonwood Heights on Tuesday and found an "absolutely catastrophic" drug operation. In addition to almost $1 million in cash and what DEA Agent Brian...

'Deeply Concerning': 7 Die of ODs in 1 Day in Cleveland Area

Officials aren't sure what drug is to blame

(Newser) - Authorities are trying to discover the types of drugs involved in a spate of overdoses that killed seven people in the Cleveland area Sunday in the latest outbreak of drug overdoses in Ohio. Officials suspect they were either heroin or fentanyl, the AP reports. "This cluster of deaths is...

Canada Approves Prescription Heroin
Canada Approves
Prescription Heroin

Canada Approves Prescription Heroin

It's given to users when other treatments fail

(Newser) - Canadian doctors dealing with patients who have proved unable to stop taking heroin can now go ahead and prescribe them heroin. Justin Trudeau's government has reinstated a policy that allows doctors to prescribe diacetylmorphine—pharmaceutical-grade heroin—to severely addicted patients if other methods of treatment fail, ABC News reports....

Elephant Tranquilizer Confirmed in Fatal Overdoses

'A tiny bit can kill a person,' says expert

(Newser) - A coroner in Ohio has confirmed the country's first fatal drug overdoses caused by carfentanil —an animal tranquilizer so powerful that a dose smaller than a snowflake can kill a human. The cases come from Hamilton County, an area including Cincinnati, which has recorded more than 200 overdoses...

Counterfeit Drugs Found at Prince's Home Contained Fentanyl: Official

Officials still don't know how he got the drug

(Newser) - Some of the pills taken from Prince's estate in Paisley Park after his death were counterfeit drugs that actually contained fentanyl—a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin, an official close to the investigation said Sunday. The official, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity...

City Struggles to Respond to 27 Overdoses in Just 5 Hours

'It was basically like a mass casualty event'

(Newser) - Twenty-seven people overdosed in less than five hours Monday in one West Virginia city, USA Today reports. "It was basically like a mass casualty event," Cabell County EMS director Gordon Merry tells CNN . The first reported overdose in Huntington came in around 3:30pm, and ambulances and other...

What It Means if Prince Got Fentanyl Illegally

Authorities say the investigation is just beginning

(Newser) - We now know that Prince died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl —an opioid up to 50 times more potent than heroin—which he administered himself. But the investigation into his death is really just beginning, reports the AP . Investigators still need to determine if the singer had a...

These Look Like a Popular Painkiller. 14 Who Took Them Are Dead

Fentanyl was disguised as a weaker drug

(Newser) - Illicitly bought prescription drugs have killed more than a dozen people in California who were expecting something much weaker. A CDC report released Tuesday warns that hospitals in the Bay Area have recently treated at least seven patients who overdosed after taking what they thought was Norco, a medium-strength opioid...

Super-Strong Painkiller Kills 7 in Northern California

More than 20 are hospitalized over fentanyl

(Newser) - Seven people have died—and nearly two dozen others have been hospitalized—in California's Sacramento County after overdosing on fentanyl, reports CBS Sacramento . Fentanyl is a painkiller much stronger than morphine and can produce a euphoric high, reports the Los Angeles Times . According to the Sacramento Bee , it's...

74 Drug Overdoses Reported Over 72 Hours in Chicago

Authorities suspect heroin laced with painkiller

(Newser) - Chicago authorities are scrambling after 74 heroin overdoses were reported in the 72 hours between Tuesday and Friday afternoon, more than double the overdose rate during the same time last year, NBC Chicago reports. Police suspect an "extremely strong batch of heroin" that's been laced the powerful painkiller...

4 Arrests Tied to Philip Seymour Hoffman Death?

Cops nab suspected dealers in NYC raids

(Newser) - Have police found the dealers who sold the heroin believed to have killed Philip Seymour Hoffman ? Four suspected dealers were busted in New York City after a tip-off last night, but it's not clear whether they were the actor's direct suppliers or part of a larger ring,...

Ex-Wilco Guitarist Died of Accidental OD: Coroner

Painkiller fentanyl cited in Bennett's death

(Newser) - Authorities say former Wilco guitarist Jay Bennett died of an overdose of a pain killer, and that they're investigating his death as an accident. Champaign County (Ill.) Coroner Duane Northrup says tests show the 45-year-old musician died after taking fentanyl, a drug found in patches commonly prescribed to treat...

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