One pill can kill. An Overdose Awareness walk will be held Sunday in Alex Neville’s memory. From the boy’s obituary: “Alexander Hastings Neville, 14 years old, died on 23 June 2020 due to an overdose of fentanyl — a drug he mistook for something else.” Alex was a smart, sensitive, curious kid, prone to a philosophical and distinctively teenage anxiety. He …
FEDS: parents killed their 4-year-old son by giving him fentanyl in a Memphis motel room
MEMPHIS, Tennessee — NEWS RELEASE FROM U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE U.S. Marshals Task Force captures two First Degree Murder suspects. MEMPHIS, Tenn. – U.S. Marshal Tyreece Miller announces the arrest of Kristen Raley and Jon Allen for First Degree Murder and other charges in the death of a child. Raley and Allen were the parents of a 4-year-old boy. While in a motel room, …
Woman loses loved ones to overdoses as epidemic remains amid COVID-19
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Ebony Farris thought losing a loved one was tough enough. Then she lost four more within the next two weeks. She had to say goodbye to a total of five loved ones and friends just this month because of an opioid overdose. The crisis not only remained despite COVID-19, but it also grew tremendously. “I can’t …
How COVID-19 Is Driving Risks in the Illicit Benzodiazepines Market
The life conditions imposed by the pandemic are leading many Americans to seek mental health treatment for the first time. As a result, prescribing of many psychiatric medications has risen by double digits in 2020. According to research conducted by Express Scripts and cited by Harvard Medical School, prescriptions for medications to treat depression, anxiety or insomnia increased by 21 percent between February …
U.S. Sees Deadly Drug Overdose Spike During Pandemic
New data from around the U.S. confirms that drug overdoses are spiking during the coronavirus pandemic, rising by roughly 18%. Reports collected in real time by the Washington, D.C.-based group ODMAP — the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program, located at the University of Baltimore — also found a significant spike in the number of fatal overdoses. “Overdose clusters have shifted …
Drug overdoses were increasing before Covid-19. The pandemic made things worse.
America’s Covid-19 epidemic is likely making its drug overdose epidemic even worse. While there’s no good national data for the year yet, local and state jurisdictions have reported increases in overdose deaths. According to the American Medical Association, as of July 20, more than 35 states have reported increases in drug-related deaths and other concerns with drug use and mental illness. Some municipalities …
TN Senator Blackburn: Harsher Penalties for Fentanyl Trafficking
Tennessee Senator Marsha Backburn and three other legislators have introduced a new act to increase sentencing penalties for trafficking fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is fifty times deadlier than heroin. The Ending Fentanyl Crisis Act of 2019 reduces the minimum amount of fentanyl needed to convict a trafficker. “The opioid crisis kills more than 175 Americans every single day All …
Public Health Officials in Nashville Believe Overdose Spike Linked to Fentanyl
A spike in recent fatal overdoses could be tied to fentanyl-laced drugs in Davidson County, public safety officials have warned Between May 30 and June 10, the Davidson County Medical Examiner’s office has investigated at least 10 deaths believed to be fatal drug overdoses, according to Metro Public Health. Of those deaths, half have been associated with an unknown white or brown powder . …
Fentanyl Deaths in TN Growing Rapidly
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Nashville physician, Dr. Marshall Hall, has seen first hand the disturbing drug trend in Middle Tennessee. At the front of the fight? — Fentanyl. In Tennessee, overdose deaths involving fentanyl increased 48 percent between 2017 and 2018. “We have definitely seen an increase in the number of overdose cases coming into the emergency room. Fentanyl is a …