fentanyl

Jason Burrows

More Than Half Of Opioid Overdose Deaths Now Involve Synthetic Drugs Like Fentanyl

If you’ve had any doubt that America is in the throes of an opioid epidemic, perhaps a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will hit the point home. [More]

Naloxone Is No Match For Strong Synthetic Opioids

Naloxone Is No Match For Strong Synthetic Opioids

As medicine and law enforcement fight different parts of a nationwide battle against the abuse of prescription opioids and the popularity of heroin, they’ve discovered a terrifying effect of new synthetic drugs used to make heroin cheaper and more powerful. People who have taken fentanyl or carfentanil sometimes need multiple doses of the life-saving drug naloxone to be revived, and the drug is expensive. [More]

DEA

Feds: Recent NYC Drug Bust Included Enough Fentanyl To Kill Half The City

As law enforcement around the country continue to battle the opioid epidemic currently raging in the U.S., federal officials say they’ve made a sizable bust in New York City, seizing enough fentanyl and heroin “to kill half the population” of the Big Apple. [More]

Jason Burrows

7 Things We Learned About The Thriving American Heroin Industry

The market for heroin is a robust one, and 2017 is shaping up to be the best year yet for the gangs and cartels who import and distribute the drug in the United States. The drug is now both inexpensive to make and more addictive, but this more potent heroin is also killing its users. [More]

Former Pharma Execs Accused Of Boosting Fentanyl Sales By Bribing Doctors With Sham Speaking Engagements

Former Pharma Execs Accused Of Boosting Fentanyl Sales By Bribing Doctors With Sham Speaking Engagements

Fentanyl is an incredibly potent opioid painkiller; it acts quickly and powerfully, but doesn’t last as long as others, meaning its medical application is limited. So if you’re a drug company trying to boost sales of your new fentanyl spray, how do you sell more of a product that very few people have a real need for? You could bribe doctors with paid “speaking engagements,” take them out and show them the “best nights of their life,” all so they write prescriptions for patients who probably shouldn’t be getting your drug. [More]

MeneerDijk

Heroin Mixed With Powerful Animal Tranquilizer Linked To Spike In Overdoses In Ohio

A sharp increase in heroin overdoses in the Cincinnati area — more than 200 in the last two weeks, killing three — has medical and law enforcement officials on edge. One possible culprit for the uptick? A super strong synthetic animal tranquilizer called carfentanil. [More]

At Least 52 People Hospitalized, 13 Dead In California After Overdosing On Counterfeit Painkiller

At Least 52 People Hospitalized, 13 Dead In California After Overdosing On Counterfeit Painkiller

Norco is a brand name for a prescription opioid painkiller that combines acetaminophen and hydrocodone. Unscrupulous jerks are also selling fake Norco that contains the powerful opioid fentanyl, resulting in dozens of hospitalizations and and least 13 deaths from overdoses in California, and that’s only in the last few weeks. [More]

White House: Docs Need Training Before Prescribing OxyContin & Other Painkillers

White House: Docs Need Training Before Prescribing OxyContin & Other Painkillers

Too many doctors are writing unnecessary prescriptions for painkillers like OxyContin and fentanyl, says the White House. That’s why the administration is looking to push through legislation that would require training for physicians who wish to write prescriptions for these drugs. [More]