The District will increase its supply of naloxone, the drug used to reverse opioid overdoses, in an attempt to curb the growing number of opioid-related deaths, city officials said Friday. The D.C. Department of Health distributed 1,000 naloxone kits in 2016 as part of a pilot program, which prevented at least 290 residents from fatally […]
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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
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. […]
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Source: CNN The American heroin epidemic has become more dangerous, as reports of heroin laced with carfentanil are being reported throughout the country. Carfentanil is the most potent opioid used commercially, 10,000 times stronger than morphine. It is a version of fentanyl, the painkiller that most recently made headlines with its role in the death […]
Read More… from Heroin Laced with Elephant Tranquilizer Hits the Streets
Prince’s death earlier this year was the result of an overdose of opioids, the Associated Press reported on Thursday, citing a law enforcement official. Now confirmed by the medical examiner, Prince has just become a key example of a problem that has spiked in recent years — and that has become a key undercurrent in […]
Read More… from A Public Example of a Growing Cultural Problem
Virginia’s emergency rooms are seeing a dramatic spike this year in the number of patients seeking treatment for heroin overdoses, state data shows. The state’s emergency departments reported nearly 500 visits in the first four months of 2016 with unintentional heroin overdose as the primary complaint or diagnosis at discharge, according to data provided to […]
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NBC4 in D.C. reports that due to a spike in hospital visits for suspected synthetic drug overdoses, D.C. hospitals will now do blood and urine tests on anyone who appears to have taken the dangerous drugs. The emergency rules, that went into effect the first week of August, 2015, require hospitals to collect blood and urine samples […]
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Since 1975 the University of Michigan has been conducting survey to measure drug, alcohol, and cigarette use and related attitudes among adolescent students nationwide. Survey participants report their drug use behaviors across three time periods: lifetime, past year, and past month. Study findings are released each Fall. […]