Seven months ago, when Jake got out of jail in Phoenix, he expected to go back to using his drug of choice: heroin. But the street market for illegal opioids had changed. “I just started smoking [fentanyl] pills because that was the thing that was around; it was so easy to get,” he said. NPR is only using Jake’s first …

Matthew Davidson was beating his heroin addiction. The 31-year-old was attending group recovery meetings. He had a restaurant job he liked. He was a doting uncle to a baby nephew. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit. Davidson lost his job. He started staying home alone in his apartment near Georgetown, Ky., depressed and yearning for his recovery support group that had …

For far too many Americans, the opioid epidemic has become an all too familiar tragedy. Friends, colleagues, and family members across the country have had their lives hijacked or lost due to these powerful drugs. While all opioids are dangerous if abused, one drug in recent years has proven to be in a lethal class of its own. With grim …

Available information suggests U.S. drug overdose deaths are on track to reach an all-time high this year. Matthew Davidson was beating his heroin addiction. The 31-year-old was attending group recovery meetings. He had a restaurant job he liked. He was a doting uncle to a baby nephew. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit. Davidson lost his job. He started staying home …

Fentanyl continues to be the deadliest drug in the Tri-Cities. And federal, state and local law enforcement officials, school superintendents, health districts and community members are teaming up to educate the public through a series of forums, discussions and educational lessons about the dangers. “We can never get the word out far enough,” William Hyslop, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern …

The Metro Public Health Department announced Friday that fatal drug overdoses recorded in greater Nashville so far this year have exceeded the number recorded in all of 2019. As of Oct. 9, 2020, Davidson County had recorded 477 fatal overdoses since Jan. 1, Metro Health department data shows. Last year, officials recorded 468 fatalities from overdoses — the highest ever recorded in a year, according information from Health …

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (WSIL) — The state of Missouri is seeing an increase in deaths from street drugs such as cocaine being laced with Fentanyl. The Cape Girardeau County coroner suspects at least a half dozen of the cases that have come through his office in recent months involve this issue. Cape Girardeau County Coroner David Taylor said those victims …

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — District attorneys across Tennessee are hoping to better educate the public about the dangerous effects of fentanyl through a new awareness campaign called “Fentanyl: The Deadliest High.” The Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference started the effort more than a month ago as the number of deadly overdoses continues to rise. TNDAGC said while the use of fentanyl has …

SALT LAKE CITY — A grieving mother whose “winsome” 23-year-old son died from a counterfeit drug laced with fentanyl had this to say about the Utah man who sold him the pills on the darknet: “He never sees the faces or knows the lives of his victims, but my husband and I would like the character and impact of at …

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — TriStar Skyline Medical Center continues to see an abundance of patients struggling with drug addictions. “There’s been no slowdown in the number of overdoses that are coming in to see us in the ER, unfortunately,” Chief of Emergency Dr. Marshall Hall said. Dr. Hall said he wasn’t surprised by new numbers released by the Tennessee Department …