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More Americans died from drug overdoses in 2021 than any previous year, a grim milestone in an epidemic that has now claimed 1 million lives in the 21st century, according to federal data released Wednesday. More than 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021, up 15 percent from the previous year, according to figures released Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics. The sobering tally reflects challenges exacerbated by the pandemic: lost access to treatment, social isolation and a more potent drug supply.

A toxicology report for late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins shows the musician had multiple types of substances in his system at the time of death. "The toxicology test on urine from Taylor Hawkins' body preliminarily found 10 types of substances, including: THC, tricyclic antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and opioids," the Attorney General's Office of Colombia shared. "The National Institute of Legal Medicine is continuing medical studies to completely clarify the cause of death for Taylor Hawkins," continued the statement. The Attorney General's office will also continue conducting its own investigation. The Foo Fighters confirmed Hawkins' sudden death at 50 late Friday...

Economic stimulus checks meant to aid in the recovery of the COVID-19 pandemic contributed significantly to the record surge in Americans who died of opioid overdoses, according to a study by the Ohio Attorney General’s Center for the Future of Forensic Science. The Ohio Attorney General’s peer-reviewed study, titled “COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments and Opioid Deaths,” has been accepted for publication by the International Journal of Drug Policy for its April 2022 volume. “The link between pandemic relief money and opioid overdose deaths is now evident,” Yost said. “The intent was to help Americans navigate this deadly pandemic but it...

A new government report out Tuesday details how opioid trafficking in the United States has changed in recent years, with Mexico now a "dominant source" of the country's fentanyl supply and synthetic opioids rapidly saturating drug markets. In its report, the federal Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking -- a bipartisan group of US lawmakers, experts and officials from federal departments and agencies -- warns that if the US does nothing to change its response to the new challenges, more American lives will be lost. "This is one of our most-pressing national security, law enforcement, and public health challenges, and...

"When I hear a firecracker, I panic." As the new year brought the news that a million people in the United States have died of opioid overdoses since 1999, Andrew Doran wrote a piece in The American Conservative that deserves nationwide attention. The piece is titled "American Orphans in the Wasteland." While it's not about opioids, it's about the kind of trauma that exists in our country. In the case of Kevin Howard and Taylor "Doc" Hudson, they are vets who saw too much while fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Doran describes how, for men like Kevin and Doc,...

The large-scale drug trafficking operation of an infamous cartel just got busted in a mountain state some 1,400 miles from its Mexican headquarters and only one U.S. official, a local prosecutor, has dared to acknowledge the obvious; “This poison is coming over from our southern border unchecked,” said the elected prosecutor of Colorado’s largest district. “It will not stop coming over the border from Mexico into our communities until the federal government takes that porous border seriously.” His name is John Kellner, district attorney in the state’s 18th Judicial District which serves a population of about 1.3 million and covers...

Forensic analysts have alerted the District of Columbia's Department of Forensic Sciences (DFS) that there is a new synthetic opioid circulating in the illicit drug supply in the city as it continues to grapple with a flood of fatal overdoses. Scientists at the DFS found the synthetic drugs during a routine study of used syringes in September and October, The Washington Post reported. The opioids - called protonitazene and isotonitazene - were found to be several times more potent than fentanyl.

Three retail pharmacy chains recklessly distributed vast amounts of pain pills in two Ohio counties, a federal jury said on Tuesday, in a verdict that could set the tone for US city and county governments that want to hold pharmacies accountable for their roles in the opioid crisis. Lake and Trumbull counties blamed pharmacies operated by CVS, Walgreens and Walmart for not stopping the flood of pills that caused hundreds of overdose deaths and cost each of the two counties about $1bn, their attorney said.

It’s one of the strongest opioids in circulation, so deadly an amount smaller than a poppy seed can kill a person. Until July, when drug users in the United States started overdosing on carfentanil, the substance was best known for knocking out moose and elephants — or as a chemical weapon. Despite the dangers, Chinese vendors offer to sell carfentanil openly online, for worldwide export, no questions asked, an Associated Press investigation has found. The AP identified 12 Chinese businesses that said they would export carfentanil to the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium and Australia for...

Since 2014, state and local governments have filed thousands of lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies they blame for causing the "opioid crisis" by exaggerating the benefits and minimizing the risks of prescription pain medication. The theory underlying these cases is pretty straightforward: Drug manufacturers lied, and people died. Two recent rulings -- one by a California judge, the other by the Oklahoma Supreme Court -- show how misleading this widely accepted narrative is. Both decisions recognize that undertreatment of pain is a real problem, and that bona fide patients rarely become addicted to prescription opioids, let alone die as a result....

In early August Economic Information Daily, a communist Chinese government mouthpiece, accused the multibillion-dollar online video game industry of peddling "spiritual opium" to Chinese teenagers. Comparing video game playing to opium addiction has explicit historical and national security connections. Opium addiction, spurred by Great Britain, undermined China's social and political cohesion and physically harmed the Chinese people. Addicts can't think; they barely move; they certainly can't soldier. No wonder EID asserted, "No industry, no sport, can be allowed to develop in a way that will destroy a generation." Some 60% of Chinese teenagers play video games. The afflictions of degenerating...

A day after Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s monologue on opioid painkillers was leaked, conservative political commentator Jesse Watters replaced him on his talk show. Watters appeared as a guest host on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Thursday night, where he discussed how an alleged Russian claim “changed the course of United States politics.” Carlson reportedly underwent an emergency back surgery on Wednesday morning and then went to the studio to host his show at night, Fox News said. However, in a recording obtained by Motherboard, Carlson can be heard saying he took a huge amount of opioid painkillers after the...

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department has shared body camera video that shows the dramatic moments after a deputy was exposed to fentanyl during an arrest last month. Fortunately, another officer was there with him. It happened on July 3, as a patrol deputy was processing drugs at the scene of an arrest. In a documentary-style video released Wednesday by the sheriff's department showing the bodycam footage, Corporal Scott Crane explained it was his trainee who was exposed to fentanyl. He said it was their first radio call of the day. In the body camera video, Crane can be heard...

A coalition of state attorneys general on Wednesday announced a proposed $26 billion settlement with pharmaceutical companies associated with facilitating the opioid crisis. Under the settlement, the "big three" opioid distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health and Amerisource Bergen Drug would pay up to $21 billion over the next 18 years. Manufacturer Johnson & Johnson, meanwhile, would pay as much as $5 billion over the next nine years depending on how many state and local governments agree to suspend their opioid lawsuits. The agreement would resolve as many as 4,000 opioid-related claims. RELATED Drug overdose deaths up nearly 30% in U.S. during...

A South Carolina corrections officer found herself in a sticky situation after she was caught attempting to smuggle Rice Krispies Treats to inmates — that were studded with drugs. Marcy T. Shafer, 43, was busted with the sweet and crunchy contraband Thursday as she tried to enter the Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution in Richland County, according to the South Carolina Department of Corrections. Photos showed the doctored marshmallow snacks inside plastic bags — and dotted with four orange, oval pills.

George Floyd’s girlfriend on Thursday testified in court.“I went to go pick Floyd up from his house that night. I thought I was taking him to work. He wasn’t feeling good. His stomach really hurt. He was doubled over in pain. Just wasn’t feeling well. And he said he had to go to the hospital. So I took him straight to the hospital,” Courteney Ross, 45, said in court in Minneapolis.“We went to the ER, and they were checking him out in the ER. And it was getting late. And I had to get home to my son. So I...

MINNEAPOLIS—Overseeing sober living homes for newly recovering drug addicts is difficult in the best of times. But the endless shutdowns have created conditions that are challenging for healthy people, let alone those who are fresh out of rehab, vulnerable, and still reeling. Matt Royce, 35, oversees seven sober-living homes in Minneapolis. All of his houses, each holding between 9 and 13 people, have been “pretty full the whole time.” No overdose deaths had occurred in his homes in almost three years, but last summer he lost two people, while another three were revived from overdoses with opioid-blocker Narcan. Depression has...

In the 1990s, it was our collective national will to do what was necessary, however distasteful to some, to rescue our society from catastrophe.As the nation prepares for the incoming Biden-Harris administration the new president promises will be “the most progressive in history,” many drug policy practitioners wonder with trepidation what this will mean for the country’s drug crisis. Record levels of methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl, not to mention surging tonnage of cocaine and black market marijuana, are pouring across our borders at the hands of ruthless Mexican drug cartels, directly fueling ever-increasing overdose deaths and crime. So leftists’ stated...

A security firm in Tennessee cutting a deal with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. Ellison's office probing an allegation that armed guards were being recruited for polling places in Minnesota... Efforts by President Trump's campaign to monitor activity at ballot drop boxes in Philadelphia with video recording may be voter intimidation. That's the view of... Pennsylvania's Supreme Court with an elected 5-2 Democrat majority ruling that that election ballots cannot be rejected for mismatched signatures... Is this all just a political stunt? That's what Republican lawmakers here in York County, Pennsylvania are asking... More towns added to Connecticut's Red Alert...

Opioid-related deaths in Cook County have doubled since this time last year, and similar increases are happening across the country. “If you’re alone, there’s nobody to give you the Narcan,” said one coroner.