Wave of Opioid Overdoses Expected to Hit U.S. Rural, Urban Areas

Wave of Opioid Overdoses Expected to Hit U.S. Rural, Urban Areas

By Cara Murez HealthDay ReporterHealthDay Reporter FRIDAY, July 29, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Experts predict opioid overdoses will climb in both rural and urban areas because of the lethal practice of mixing the highly addictive narcotics with other drugs. The coming wave of opioid overdoses “will be worse than ever seen before,” said researchers from … Read more

Using Mental Health Team, Not Cops, on 911 Calls Lowers Crime

Using Mental Health Team, Not Cops, on 911 Calls Lowers Crime

June 14 – Pairing a mental health expert with a paramedic to respond to low-level, nonviolent 911 calls decreased the number of criminal offenses in downtown Denver, a new study reveals. These non-police response teams were trained to address problems related to mental health, depression, poverty, homelessness, and/or substance abuse. During 6 months in 2020, … Read more

Ohio State Warns of Fake Adderall Pills After Two Students Die

Ohio State Warns of Fake Adderall Pills After Two Students Die

By Cara Murez HealthDay ReporterHealthDay Reporter MONDAY, May 9, 2022 (HealthDay News) – Ohio State University is warning students to be wary of fake Adderall pills after two students died last week. University officials said that Columbus Public Health has warned the community about the counterfeit Adderall, which contain the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl and … Read more

Is the Opioid Crisis Masking Real Rates of Suicides?

Is the Opioid Crisis Masking Real Rates of Suicides?

April 21, 2022 – Pandemic conditions were ripe for a mental health disaster: Isolation, a crashing economy, and a mystery illness taking aim with deadly accuracy. But while instances of depression and anxiety increased, there seemed to be one comforting prospect: In the past 2 years, suicide numbers have dropped. “We all thought that suicides … Read more

Tragic Teen Overdoses Revive Talks on Narcan in Schools

Tragic Teen Overdoses Revive Talks on Narcan in Schools

March 24, 2022 — Raagini Jawa, MD, was high schooler in a small New England town when she experienced firsthand the shock and grief of a deadly drug overdose. Jawa lost a close friend — a classmate who had been to her house for countless dinners and sleepovers. That was 15 years ago. Since then, … Read more

New Wearable Device Could Help Prevent Overdose Deaths

Jan. 27, 2022 — It’s no secret that a particular public health epidemic has only gotten worse during the COVID-19 pandemic: drug overdose deaths. From May 2020 to April 2021, more than 100,000 people in the U.S. died from a drug overdose, according to the CDC. About 64% of those deaths were from opioids, mostly … Read more

U.S. Meth Overdose Deaths Tripled in Recent Years

By Steven ReinbergHealthDay Reporter THURSDAY, Sept. 23, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Deaths from methamphetamine overdoses in the United States nearly tripled between 2015 and 2019, health officials report in a new study. While the number of methamphetamine users did not increase as steeply, researchers said frequent use of methamphetamine, and using other drugs at the … Read more

Severe Opioid Overdoses Rose by Nearly a Third During Pandemic

By Robert PreidtHealthDay Reporter FRIDAY, July 30, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Opioid overdose-related visits to U.S. emergency departments rose by nearly one-third during the COVID-19 pandemic last year. That’s the key finding in a new analysis of data from 25 emergency departments in Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, North Carolina, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. “COVID-19, and the … Read more