A street drug that combines fentanyl and a new synthetic opioid is being sold illegally as the prescription painkiller Norco, according to a new report. Researchers caution that the street version is much stronger and more hazardous than the real medication.
The number of deaths in the United States involving heroin more than tripled between 2010 and 2014, according to a new report by the Drug Enforcement Administration. The number of people reporting current heroin use nearly tripled between 2007 and 2014, the agency said.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has found that a vast drug-distribution network that originates in China is feeding the deadly opioid fentanyl to the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Top headlines of the week from Friday, June 17- Thursday, June 23, 2016.
Two former drug salesmen were arrested last week for allegedly paying physicians to prescribe fentanyl, USA Today reports. Fentanyl has received heavy scrutiny after it was announced Prince died from an accidental overdose of the drug.
Top headlines of the week from Friday, June 10- Thursday, June 16, 2016.
The Drug Enforcement Administration has become increasingly alarmed over the proliferation of illicit fentanyl and other synthetic drugs, the acting head of the agency told a Senate committee Tuesday.
Top headlines of the week from Friday, June 3- Thursday, June 9, 2016.
Top headlines of the week from Friday, May 13- Thursday, May 19, 2016.
Top headlines of the week from Friday, May 6- Thursday, May 12, 2016.
Top headlines of the week from Friday, April 8- Thursday, April 14, 2016.
New York City officials report a large influx of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, according to The Wall Street Journal. Fentanyl is 30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin.
Law enforcement officials say they are seeing increasing cases of the potent opioid fentanyl being sold as other painkillers, such as oxycodone or Percocet.
Researchers have developed a vaccine that blocks the high produced by the drug fentanyl in mice, according to Popular Science.
The vast majority of overdose deaths in Massachusetts in the first six months of 2014 were caused by heroin or a prescription opioid taken along with some other drug or alcohol, according to NPR.
China has banned the sale of more than 100 synthetic drugs, the Miami Herald reports. One of the drugs is flakka, a highly addictive synthetic drug that has hit Florida hard and has been spreading to other states.
Fentanyl-laced heroin is worsening the nation’s overdose crisis, officials tell NPR. Some drug dealers are using an illicit version of fentanyl, a potent anesthesia drug, to increase the potency of heroin that has been diluted.
The Drug Enforcement Administration has issued a nationwide alert in response to a surge in overdose deaths from heroin laced with the narcotic drug fentanyl, the most potent opioid available for medical use.
At least 28 people in Philadelphia died after using heroin laced with the painkiller fentanyl between March 3 and April 20, the city announced Monday.
Heroin laced with the synthetic opiate fentanyl is suspected in at least 50 recent fatal overdoses in three states, according to law enforcement officials. In Pennsylvania, the drug combination is suspected in at least 17 deaths. Officials in Maryland and Michigan are also investigating deaths linked to the drug mix.
The Drug Enforcement Administration has joined an investigation into the source of a batch of heroin that killed 22 people in western Pennsylvania, The Wall Street Journal reports. The heroin involved in some of the deaths contained the synthetic opiate fentanyl, often used during surgery.
Pain patches are slowly gaining in popularity in the United States, where 88 percent of pain relief comes in the form of pills.
The Food and Drug Administration has issued a safety alert about fentanyl painkiller patches, warning that young children are at risk of death if they are accidentally exposed to the patches.
Children who are exposed to medication through family members’ transdermal patches are at risk of overdose, experts warn.
Get Support
