Savannah’s overdose deaths are climbing as those addicted to opioids seek pain medications on the street, many of which are laced with lethal fentanyl The following is an excerpt from a recent “The Commute” podcast discussion featuring Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team Director Michael Sarhatt. Comments have been condensed in the interest of space. The full interview is available at SavannahNow.com/podcasts or …

The nine members of the West Tennessee Drug Task Force were honored Friday for the work it did in 2020, with a  historic number of seizures and arrests in the face of the COVID pandemic. “These men and women go to work every day devoted to making west Tennessee safer. Safer for our children, to keep dangerous deadly drugs out …

In the war against opioid overdose deaths, Tennessee is winning one battle — doctors are prescribing pain pills at much lower rates — but still losing other battles. Tennessee doctors prescribed 43% fewer prescription opiates in 2018 (.82 prescriptions per person) than they did in 2010 (1.4 per person), following a national pattern. The state still sees some of the …

On April 21, Senator John Kennedy introduced the Ending the Fentanyl Crisis Act of 2021. If passed, the bill would increase the legal penalties for fentanyl traffickers, in proportion to the drug’s potency. The bill would also make it harder for drug dealers to circulate the substance.  “The opioid epidemic has devastated American families and communities, in large part because of …

 The CDC announced federal grant money can be used to purchase fentanyl test strips. Now Metro officials are working to figure out how to get them to people as quickly as possible.  Romello Marchman was just 22-years-old when he died. It happened on Memorial Day in Nashville. The coroner found high levels of fentanyl in his system. “Those kids, they …

Francis Collins, MD, PhD, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently spoke with Nora Volkow, MD, director of NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people struggling with substance use disorders and those who are trying to help them. According to Dr. Volkow, there has been an exacerbation of the …

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. …