Tanja Jacobs remembers the phone call as if it were yesterday. “The next thing I heard was him just screaming and crying,” Jacobs remembers. It was Memorial Day 2020 when 22-year-old Romello Marchman was found dead in his apartment. “I had asked what had happened, and he said he had passed. He was sitting on the couch like he was …

A man with suspected ties to a gang operating in Middle Tennessee has been arrested on multiple drug charges after investigators said they found two pounds of fentanyl while serving warrants. District Attorney Matthew Stowe said Tuesday that “a sizeable stash of illegal drugs, cash, weapons and vehicles” had been seized from multiple targeted locations during a long-term investigation that …

Tennessee’s overdose epidemic continues to worsen. Though 2020 data is still preliminary, the Tennessee Department of Health says the increasing trends combined with the exacerbating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have formed what will be the state’s deadliest year for overdoses. A new report from the Office of Informatics and Analytics says fatal overdoses in 2020 are expected to greatly …

Health leaders also said that the number of deaths from illegal drugs increased and that the overdose epidemic could be moving away from prescription pain relievers. The Tennessee Department of Health said that 2020 could be the state’s deadliest year for overdoses according to new data. They released a report on overdose deaths on Tuesday, the 2021 Annual Overdose Report. …

A frightening amount of fentanyl is now off area streets Monday following a joint investigation by the Cheatham County Sheriff Narcotics unit, Clarksville Police and the TBI. The long-term investigation happened suddenly on February 24 at a convenience store off of 41 A in Cheatham County. According to Lt. Shannon Heflin of the Cheatham County Sheriff’s Department Narcotics Unit, agents …

Here’s a look at the opioid crisis. Experts say the United States is in the throes of an opioid epidemic. An estimated 10.1 million Americans aged 12 and older misused opioids in 2019, including 9.7 million prescription pain reliever abusers and 745,000 heroin users. Opioids are drugs formulated to replicate the pain-reducing properties of opium. Prescription painkillers like morphine, oxycodone and hydrocodone are …

Overdose deaths spiked in Washington in 2020, increasing by 38% in the first half of the year compared to the first half of 2019, according to the state Department of Health (DOH).  Most of that increase came from deaths involving fentanyl, a very strong opioid, according to the DOH.  Preliminary data show 835 overdose deaths in the first six months …

As the death toll contributed to COVID-19 nears 430,000 in the United States alone, there’s another number that’s just as alarming but not receiving the same attention, even though the two are connected: Overdose deaths. In the 12 months ending in May 2020, more than 81,000 drug overdose deaths were reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the …

Since starting his first recovery home in 2017, Jonathan Allen has lost very few residents to overdoses. In 2020, he had two clients overdose and die after leaving one of Allen’s Primary Purpose recovery homes. One man packed and left in the middle of the night after months of being sober. Frustrated with the restrictions put in place due to …

Overdose reversal medicine Naloxone is a tremendous tool in the fight against opioids but we need more Tennesseans aware of the crisis and what they can do to help. Most of us have heard about the opioid epidemic afflicting the United States. The numbers are truly mind-boggling: Over 450,000 Americans have lost their lives to an opioid overdose in the last …