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Amid a national epidemic of opioid overdose deaths, the Biden administration has launched an initiative to distribute naloxone-based antidotes widely, including in schools and on airplanes. In a statement announcing the “Challenge to Save Lives from Overdose,” the White House described it as “a nationwide call-to-action to stakeholders across all sectors to save lives by committing to increase both training and access to lifesaving opioid overdose reversal medications.” Often sold under the brand name Narcan, and carried by many first responders, naloxone rapidly reverses an opioid overdose. “An overdose can happen anywhere, to anyone,” the White House said. “That’s why...

Hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved over the years when naloxone — commonly known as Narcan — is administered to someone overdosing on opioids. Drugs Illegal drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl can be mixed with xylazine, either to enhance drug effects or increase street value by increasing their weight. sedative/tranquilizer called xylazine to heroin, fentanyl and other opioids. And that’s bad news for addicts because naloxone doesn’t reverse a xylazine overdose. National Center for Biotechnology Information “You overdose on xylazine, and you’re going to die,” said the commander of the Greater Harrison Drug & Violent Crimes...

Portland's public safety commissioner has told people to not call 911 unless they're at risk of death - as the Democrat-run city continues to struggle with rampant drug use and a slew of overdoses. Commissioner Rene Gonzalez told locals that its emergency service hotline was overwhelmed with people calling about members of the public suffering fentanyl overdoses. Oregon decriminalized hard drug use three years ago. As a result, he urged people to only call 911 in a life or death emergency, as it was revealed paramedics had been called to deal with eight suspected fentanyl overdoses in the city's once-tony...

In September, Narcan — the first over-the-counter naloxone nasal spray approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration without a prescription — was rolled out to pharmacies and drugstores across the United States with a retail price of $44.99 for a pack of two devices. Experts have already hailed the widespread availability of the medication, which quickly reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, as a "lifesaving" tool amid alarming rates of drug overdose deaths. In 2021, more than 75% of those deaths involved opioids, with fentanyl contributing to more than 77% of adolescent overdose deaths that year. Indeed,...

Word that New York City set a drug-overdose death-toll record last year was underscored this week by Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan’s proposal that everybody now pack an OD rescue kit. “You should be carrying Narcan right now,” he says. “Narcan needs to be everywhere.” That’s so you’ll be prepared in case you’re strolling through Tompkins Square Park one sunny afternoon, and notice someone flaked out on a bench looking seriously overdosed. You’ll reach for your Narcan holster and come to the rescue (even though, given Tompkins’ clientele, you’ll doubtless need a much bigger holster.) Hey — it takes a village,...

Police say the woman told officers it was the second time the dog had overdosed.A pit bull puppy that California police believe got into its owners' fentanyl stash was administered an overdose-reversing drug and is recovering, officials said. The dog's owners, a man and a woman, were arrested and could face charges including drug possession and animal cruelty, according to the Irvine Police Department. The incident began with a “consensual” encounter between the couple and police on Wednesday outside a Walmart, department spokesman Kyle Oldoerp said. After officers discovered fentanyl in their car, the two were arrested, he said. “Then...

Overdose deaths in Charlotte rose over 20% from a year ago and fentanyl is the main culprit, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. Already this year CMPD has reported as many as 137 fatal overdoses and responded to 1,000 calls to aid overdose victims. Most of these involved fentanyl. One of these calls came late Sunday night, when a 32-year-old in Charlotte became the 137th victim, officials said at a press conference Monday. Dr. Jon Studnek, Medic’s deputy director, who joined CMPD Monday, said the agency treats about seven patients a day with suspected opioid overdoses. Medic does what it...

As details emerge about Madonna’s recent health scare, some sources are saying the Queen of Pop was far worse off than was originally acknowledged and that she had a “brush with death.” A spokesman for the 64-year-old star announced last week that she had been hospitalized in the intensive care unit of a New York City hospital after she was discovered “unresponsive” on June 24. However, an exclusive report by RadarOnline claimed Madonna had to be “brought back from the dead” with a Narcan injection when she was found. Narcan is a brand name for a generic drug known as...

New York City's first public health vending machine giving out free crack pipes, condoms and Narcan, an overdose-reversing drug, was already empty less than 24 hours after being unveiled by officials. But eager city officials determined to keep residents in rich supply of clean drug apparatus were quick to revisit the site on Tuesday afternoon with more. Elan Quashie, the Opioid Overdose Program Director at Services for the Under Served, said: ‘We’re going to restock every day. Probably multiple times a day.’ He said he was not surprised that the items were taken so quickly, adding: ‘I kind of knew...

New York City installed a vending machine that dispenses free crack pipes, fentanyl test strips, Narcan (an overdose reversal drug) and condoms. Public health officials unveiled the machine on Monday in Brooklyn at 1676 Broadway, ABC7 New York reported. Less than 24 hours after its installation the machine was empty, according to the New York Post. The machine cost the city $11,000 to install, and it also offers residents free COVID-19 testing, feminine sanitation products, hygiene kits, Vitamin C, and first aid kits. Residents must simply enter their zip code to gain access.

The widely available drug fentanyl, already the number one killer of Americans under 50, could be weaponized and used for terroristic mass poisoning, according to health experts at Rutgers and other institutions. “Before fentanyl, the only viable mass poisons were rare and difficult-to-access agents such as cyanide or nerve agents,” said Lewis Nelson, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and senior author of the new Frontiers in Public Health paper. “Fentanyl can be just as deadly if properly disseminated, and it’s ubiquitous. A motivated person could readily obtain enough to potentially poison hundreds...

Fentanyl overdoses continue to rise in Santa Cruz County and beyond; there’s only one silver bullet

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved its first opioid reversal drug, Narcan, for over-the-counter, nonprescription use. "Today's action paves the way for the life-saving medication to reverse an opioid overdose to be sold directly to consumers in places like drug stores, convenience stores, grocery stores and gas stations, as well as online." U.S. Food and Drug Administration Narcan, the brand name of the nasal spray naloxone, will switch from prescription to over-the-counter status within the next several months, the agency said. Prescriptions will still be required for other formulations and dosages of naloxone.

The overdose-reversing drug naloxone should be made available over the counter to aid the national response to the opioid crisis, U.S. health advisers said Wednesday. The panel of Food and Drug Administration experts voted unanimously in favor of the switch after a full day of presentations and discussions centered on whether untrained users would be able to safely and effectively use the nasal spray in emergency situations. The positive vote, which is not binding, came despite concerns from some panel members about the drug’s instructions and packaging, which caused confusion among some people in a company study. The manufacturer, Emergent...

Drug Overdoses For January Break Record [Portland Maine] The Portland Police Department responded to 56 drug overdose calls (six fatal) in January of 2023, 11 more than a year ago and 34 more (22) than in 2021. Narcan, an overdose-reversal drug, was administered 38 of the 56 cases and was also issued in two of the six fatal cases. The Portland Police Department continues to work with its state and federal law enforcement partners in rooting out drug trafficking in our city. In 2022, the agencies removed approximately 28 ounces of methamphetamine, 22 ounces of cocaine products, 1.5 ounces of...

The infant son of a California tech honcho overdosed on fentanyl he found while crawling around a playground in an upscale San Francisco neighborhood, according to his frightened father and nanny. The 10-month-old twin, Sena, was playing with his brother at George Moscone Park in the Marina District on Tuesday afternoon when he began struggling to breathe and turned blue, his nanny Wendy Marroqui said. “I shook him, and I’m like, something’s wrong,” Marroqui told wral.com. “I saw his face and he was dizzy. I thought he’s not breathing.”

With several fentanyl-related overdoses recently — including a fatal OD at Bernstein High School — the Los Angeles Unified School District is taking action. Superintendent Alberto Carvalho announced Thursday that naloxone, also known as Narcan, will be made available at all K-12 schools in the coming weeks, the LAUSD said in a press release. “We have an urgent crisis on our hands,” Carvalho said in the release. “Research shows that the availability of naloxone along with overdose education is effective at decreasing overdoses and death — and will save lives. We will do everything in our power to ensure that...

The San Francisco Chronicle just published a lengthy multimedia report about the most devastating public-health crisis currently afflicting the city. And no, it's not COVID-19. It's the rash of super-potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl that are causing a surge in deaths among the city's vast homeless community, as well as among others.Nearly 3/4ths of the thousands of drug overdoses that have been reported in the City by the Bay have involved fentanyl; for the last two years, Fentanyl has been killing far more people in San Francisco than COVID. It's not even close, really.In San Francisco, roughly 1,310 people died...

The death of a Connecticut seventh grader from an apparent fentanyl overdose has renewed calls for schools to carry the opioid antidote naloxoneThe death of a 13-year-old student who apparently overdosed on fentanyl at his Connecticut school has drawn renewed pleas for schools to stock the opioid antidote naloxone, as well as for training of both staffers and children on how to recognize and respond to overdoses. The seventh grader died Jan. 15 after falling ill at a Hartford school that did not have naloxone on hand. City officials vowed Wednesday to put the antidote in all city schools, as...

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - The death of a 13-year-old student who apparently overdosed on fentanyl at his Connecticut school has drawn renewed pleas for schools to stock the opioid antidote naloxone, as well as for training of both staffers and children on how to recognize and respond to overdoses. The seventh grader was hospitalized Jan. 13 after falling ill at a Hartford school that did not have naloxone on hand. City officials vowed Wednesday to put the antidote in all city schools, as part of a wider drug use and overdose prevention strategy. “Naloxone should be available in all schools,...