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. …

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 …