A lethal new drug dubbed “gray death” by authorities that is dangerous to even touch with gloves is being eyed in overdose cases across Georgia, Alabama and Ohio. Investigators said the high-potency cocktail — which is comprised of heroin, fentanyl, the elephant tranquilizer carfentanil, and a synthetic opioid called U-47700 — can kill users with […]
Read More… from New Gray-Death Drug Can Kill with a Single Dose
At the retail end of the global heroin trade, local heroin rings repackage pounds of the drug into single-serve doses and push the product to its final destination: the user. From there, the next stop is often a hospital emergency room or a morgue, as an epidemic of heroin-related overdoses and deaths continues its creep […]
Heroin use – which has been at the epicenter of a ruthless and relentless opioid epidemic sweeping the country – has increased fivefold over a decade, and dependence on the drug has tripled, researchers say. […]
Read More… from Increase in U.S. Heroin Use Hit Young, White Men the Hardest
REISTERSTOWN, Md. – Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Wednesday escalated his administration’s response to the opioid-addiction crisis, declaring a state of emergency and committing an additional $50 million over the next five years to beef up enforcement, prevention and treatment services. […]
Read More… from Maryland Governor Declares State of Emergency for Opioid Crisis
The Maryland Chapter of Drug-Free World visited the children and young adults of the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club of Franklin Square of Baltimore in March 2107. The children watched a documentary about the dangers of drugs narrated by former drug addicts. There was lively discussion about the things that can happen to a […]
Read More… from Baltimore Children Pledge to a Live Drug-Free Life
You may have heard of K2 or “Spice,” a pair of terms for synthetic marijuana — or more appropriately, synthetic cannabinoids — which is growing in popularity. Some find them tempting substitutes for traditional weed because these drugs aren’t technically illegal in many places. People who undergo drug testing can consume synthetic marijuana because there’s […]
Read More… from What Is Synthetic Weed and Why Is It Bad for You?
OxyContin is a dying business in America. With the nation in the grip of an opioid epidemic that has claimed more than 200,000 lives, the U.S. medical establishment is turning away from painkillers. Top health officials are discouraging primary care doctors from prescribing them for chronic pain, saying there is no proof they work long-term […]
Follow the pills and you’ll find the overdose deaths. The trail of painkillers leads to West Virginia’s southern coalfields, to places like Kermit, population 392. There, out-of-state drug companies shipped nearly 9 million highly addictive — and potentially lethal — hydrocodone pills over two years to a single pharmacy in the Mingo County town. […]
Read More… from Drug Firms Poured $780M Painkillers Into West Virginia Amid Rise of Overdoses
Opioid deaths continued to surge in 2015, surpassing 30,000 for the first time in recent history, according to CDC data released Thursday. That marks an increase of nearly 5,000 deaths from 2014. Deaths involving powerful synthetic opiates, like fentanyl, rose by nearly 75 percent from 2014 to 2015. […]
Read More… from CDC Data Shows Heroin Deaths Surpass Gun Homicides
China’s ban on certain chemicals is being credited by Drug Enforcement Administration officials in a noticeable decrease in certain synthetic drugs in the United States. Police encounters with six substances that were part of China’s 115-chemical ban have dropped dramatically (PDF) since it took effect in October, DEA numbers show. […]
Read More… from Progress against Chinese chemists selling dangerous synthetic drugs in US