Drug overdose deaths in Los Angeles County fell for a third consecutive year in 2025, with fentanyl playing a smaller role than it did just two years ago, according to the county’s Department of Public Health. The drop reflects the abundance of treatment programs for opioid use disorders in The Golden State, from inpatient care to grassroots Narcotics Anonymous programs for Angelenos.

Overdose deaths dropped 6% in 2025 and an overall 30% since its apex in 2022, when the county recorded 3,220 deaths. LA County’s progress mirrors the larger national trend. Overdose fatalities across the U.S. dropped 35% from 2022 to 69,973 in 2025.

The Opioid Crisis in Los Angeles

Fentanyl remains a major factor in the county’s overdose crisis, but a shrinking one. The synthetic opioid was responsible for 49% of L.A. County’s overdose deaths in 2025, down from 64% in 2023. Methamphetamine, meanwhile, remained involved in roughly 61% of overdose deaths, contributing to 1,405 deaths in 2025, a 7% drop from the year before.

“Three consecutive years of fewer overdose deaths in L.A. County is proof that sustained investments in prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery services saves lives,” noted Barbara Ferrer, the county director of the Department of Public Health.

Driving the Change in L.A.

The CDC credits the nationwide decline in drug-related deaths to several factors, including wider distribution of naloxone, the medication used to reverse opioid overdoses. Other factors include enhanced treatment options and a shift in the illegal drug trade.

L.A. County’s own strategy relies heavily on harm reduction, which treats addiction as a health condition. Harm reduction focuses on keeping folks alive rather than requiring complete abstinence. The county distributes naloxone, fentanyl test strips, and clean smoking supplies.

However, federal funding for parts of that approach has become more limited this year. In April 2026, SAMHSA barred funds from paying for syringes or fentanyl test strips. This policy shift reflects an ongoing national debate over harm reduction strategy.

Fentanyl and Overdose Risk

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that’s frequently mixed into other drugs without the user’s knowledge. That’s part of the reason it has driven so much of the overdose crisis in recent years. Signs of an opioid overdose include slowed or stopped breathing, pinpoint pupils, blue-tinged lips or fingertips, and unresponsiveness. 

The county’s data also shows the crisis is not distributed evenly. Neighborhoods with 30% or more of families living below the federal poverty level had overdose fatality rates nearly 5x greater than regions where less than 10% live below that line. This gap has widened steadily over the past decade. 

Race and economics also play a part. Black residents make up 7% of the county’s population but accounted for nearly a quarter of overdose deaths in 2025. People experiencing homelessness are 46x more likely to die of overdose and accounted for more than one third of overdose fatalities.

Harm Reduction and Treatment Works

For people with a narcotic addiction or opioid use disorder, this data underscores that recovery resources are working at a population level, even as individual risk remains serious. Naloxone access, medication-assisted treatment such as buprenorphine and methadone, and peer support all play a role in reducing repeat overdose risk.

In-person peer support meetings also make a large difference. Peer groups like NA provide free, confidential, and non-judgmental support that often lasts a lifetime. Your colleagues understand what you’re going through, and they’re there when needed.

NA an Effective Line of Defense

Anyone worried about their own drug use, or a family member’s, doesn’t need to wait for a crisis to seek support. NA meetings are held throughout Los Angeles County and throughout the country and inpatient and outpatient treatment programs are available for people ready to pursue recovery from opioid or stimulant use.

Taking the first step is as simple as dialing 800-934-1582(Sponsored) to speak with an expert. You can find treatment options and resources right in your own neighborhood. Or, browse our directory to locate an NA chapter anywhere in the USA.

The Drug Enforcement Administration sent out a notice on July 1 to place 7-hydroxymitragynine, known as 7-OH, and three related substances into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. Placing kratom into the strictest legal category effectively bans its manufacture, distribution, sale and possession.

But drug policy critics oppose the move. They argue that many people already use 7-OH and kratom products as a self-managed alternative to prescription and illicit opioids. Accordingly, a ban could push those users back toward more dangerous drugs instead of reducing harm.

The DEA’s Announcement

The DEA filed two Notices of Intent with the Federal Register on July 1. One addresses 7-OH above a specified threshold, and the other on mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15 and MGM-16. The Department of Health and Human Services confirmed that synthetic 7-OH has no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse and cited a jump in kratom poison cases.

DEA Administrator Terrance Cole noted the action targets highly concentrated synthetic 7-OH products that are an emerging threat to public safety. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., characterized them as dangerous fuelers of addiction. 

The ban doesn’t apply to raw botanical kratom products that contain natural 7-OH below the threshold. It targets synthesized products and concentrated extracts sold online and in convenience stores and smoke shops as powders, tablets, gummies and dissolvable strips.

About 7-OH and Kratom

Kratom originates from leaves off the Mitragyna speciosa, a tree native to Southeast Asia. Its primary alkaloid, mitragynine, converts into 7-OH as the body metabolizes it. 7-OH can also be concentrated or synthesized directly in lab settings. 

Kratom has opioid-like effects on pain and mood at higher doses. Some products marketed as kratom extracts contain much higher concentrations of 7-OH than what naturally occurs in the raw leaf.

Some Critics Oppose the Ban

Critics, including drug policy researchers at the Reason Foundation, argue the ban outpaces the available evidence and does more harm than good. Their case rests on a few specific points. 

• They point to DEA’s own cited data, which documented 85 overdose cases and 55 deaths involving 7-OH since 2019, and note that most of those cases involved other substances such as fentanyl rather than 7-OH alone. This suggests the actual risk from 7-OH by itself is lower than the scheduling action implies. 

• They cite National Institutes of Health-funded research studying kratom-derived compounds as a potential treatment for opioid use disorder, arguing that a Schedule I ban could complicate or halt that research. 

• Critics argue that many people currently use 7-OH and kratom products to manage chronic pain or to reduce or stop opioid use on their own. Eliminating legal access could push them back toward illicit opioids that carry a much higher overdose risk.

Public health officials backing the DEA’s action see it differently. They argue that concentrated, synthetic 7-OH products carry real overdose and dependence risks of their own. These products are largely unregulated and inconsistently manufactured and emergency scheduling gives law enforcement and public health agencies tools to act quickly against a fast-growing and unsupervised market.

Both sides agree that mixing 7-OH or kratom with other depressants, including alcohol and certain medications, increases risk. They also acknowledge that manufacturing quality varies widely in an unregulated market.

Traditional Harm Reduction and Treatment Still Work

Whatever the outcome of the scheduling process, people using 7-OH or kratom products to manage pain, mood, or opioid withdrawal on their own should know that naloxone can reverse opioid-like respiratory effects, including those linked to 7-OH in early research. 

Medication-assisted treatment with buprenorphine or methadone and combined with counseling remains the most established path for treating opioid misuse. 

Anyone trying to stop opioid use from prescription painkillers, drugs or even kratom-derived products has safer options than going it alone.

NA Remains an Effective First Step

That’s where Narcotics Anonymous comes in. NA meetings also offer peer support for people working toward recovery from narcotics and opioid use, regardless of which substance brought them there.

Begin today by dialing 800-934-1582(Sponsored) to chat with a specialist and locate local resources. You can also browse our directory to find NA chapters located anywhere in the United States.

Federal prosecutors in South Dakota have secured convictions against 54 members of four separate drug trafficking networks that brought methamphetamine and fentanyl into Sioux Falls, Rapid City, the Pine Ridge Reservation, and surrounding communities. 

Even though The Mount Rushmore State features a wide range of inpatient care and local Narcotics Anonymous programs to assist anyone impacted by drugs, the opioid crisis has remained strong. Indeed, the case results illustrate how deeply the opioid crisis permeates parts of the country that don’t always make national headlines.

The Opioid Crisis in South Dakota

Combined, the four organizations trafficked more than 1,000 pounds of methamphetamine and multiple kilograms of fentanyl powder and pills into South Dakota over the past several years. Investigators estimate tens of thousands of fentanyl pills moved through these networks alone. Federal prison sentences secured so far total more than 660 years across the four cases, with additional defendants still awaiting trial or sentencing.

One organization under the leadership of a Las Vegas man sentenced to 33 years in federal prison was the first to introduce powdered fentanyl to the Sioux Falls drug market. Fentanyl powder is considered especially dangerous because it’s lethal in microscopic amounts and far harder to dose predictably than counterfeit pills.

Dismantling the Network

The four cases described in the announcement represent different trafficking models: a two-decade cartel-sourced pipeline running through Colorado, a five-year California-to-South Dakota methamphetamine route, and two more localized operations sourced from California, Nevada, and Arizona. 

Investigators note that South Dakota communities, including tribal communities on the Pine Ridge Reservation, have increasingly become destination markets for supply chains that originate far outside the state. Even though locals have fought back with movements like Drug Take-Back Day, trafficking has taken a large toll on residents. With these channels gone, residents hope to see a decline in the number of overdose cases and deaths.

Fentanyl & Treating It

Fentanyl’s presence in the drug supply has changed the risk calculus for anyone using opioids, stimulants, or counterfeit prescription pills. Since fentanyl is many times stronger than heroin, even small variations in a batch can turn a familiar dose into a fatal one. People who use drugs from an unfamiliar or newly disrupted supply chain, such as one affected by a law enforcement action like this, face an added layer of risk if their usual source shifts to an unknown one.

Fentanyl test strips can help people identify whether a substance contains fentanyl before using it, reducing the chance of an unexpected overdose. Naloxone (Narcan) reverses opioid overdoses when administered quickly and is available without a prescription at most pharmacies. Carrying naloxone is a practical, life-saving step for anyone or a loved one who uses opioids.

For people with an opioid use disorder, medication-assisted treatment options including buprenorphine and methadone remain the most evidence-based path to reducing overdose risk and supporting long-term recovery. 

NA meetings offer peer support alongside medical treatment, not as a replacement for it.

Good News for Families

For families in South Dakota, and in tribal communities on the Pine Ridge Reservation specifically, disruptions to a local drug supply can be a moment of both risk and opportunity. Risk. A person with an opioid use disorder may seek out an unfamiliar source when a usual one disappears. Opportunity, because moments of disruption sometimes open a window where someone becomes more willing to consider treatment.

If someone in your life uses drugs, having naloxone on hand and knowing the signs of an overdose (slow or absent breathing, blue-tinted lips or fingertips, unresponsiveness) can matter more than knowing exactly what substance they’re using. Remember that fentanyl contamination can show up in methamphetamine, counterfeit pills, and other substances that weren’t originally opioids at all.

NA Still a Top Resource

If you or someone you love is affected by opioid or methamphetamine use in South Dakota or anywhere else, NA meetings are available in most communities, including virtual options for people who can’t attend in person.

Getting started is easy. Dial 800-934-1582(Sponsored) for confidential guidance on opioid addiction treatment options. To find an NA chapter anywhere in the U.S., browse our directory and begin healing today.

A large Canadian clinical trial has found that targeted nerve blocks can significantly cut opioid use after cardiac surgery. The team notes that this can reshape how these potentially addictive drugs are used following one of the most opioid-intensive procedures in medicine. 

For anyone concerned about opioid addiction risk following surgery, the results point to a concrete way hospitals can reduce unnecessary exposure to opioids from the very start.

The Opioid Crisis in Context

Cardiac surgery has historically lagged behind other surgical fields in adopting opioid-sparing pain control. Anesthetic gases used to keep patients unconscious during heart surgery can significantly lower blood pressure, so care teams often lean more heavily on opioids to keep blood pressure and heart rate stable during the operation. That reliance carries forward into recovery, where patients frequently receive high doses of opioids for post-surgical pain, even though some studies have shown that opioids don’t reduce long-term pain.

Clinicians are well aware of the addictive nature of opioid use after an operation. Some new surgery procedures have omitted opioids altogether. However, these new approaches remain in the experimental stage.

The EPOCH-CardioLink-10 trial, led by researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and conducted across hospitals in four Canadian provinces, enrolled 318 adults undergoing cardiac surgery involving a median sternotomy, the standard procedure that involves splitting the breastbone. The team randomly assigned participants to receive continuous nerve blocks delivering either the local anesthetic ropivacaine or a placebo for two days after surgery.

Nerve Blocks Have a Role

Researchers adapted a nerve block technique from pediatric medicine, using a superficial parasternal intercostal plane block to numb the intercostal nerves near the sternum that transmit pain from the chest area. Within the first 72 hours after surgery, patients who received the ropivacaine nerve block used an average of 20.7 fewer morphine milligram equivalents compared to those who received the placebo. 

They were also nearly half as likely to require very high opioid doses, with 12.9% reaching at least 200 morphine milligram equivalents compared to 23% in the placebo group.

Narcotics and How to Treat Them

Opioids work by binding to receptors in the brain and body that control pain and reward, which is why they’re effective painkillers but also carry a high risk of dependence with repeated use. Every opioid prescription, including those given after surgery, carries risk of developing into longer-term use, particularly for patients with prior substance use history. 

Reducing the total opioid dose a patient receives after a major surgery like this is one of the most direct ways to lower that risk from the outset.

This trial matters for harm reduction because they attack the problem upstream, before a prescription morphs into a dependency. For people who develop opioid use disorder, whether from a surgical prescription or otherwise, medication-assisted treatment using buprenorphine, methadone, or naltrexone remains one of the most effective evidence-based paths to recovery. 

Naloxone should also be available to anyone using or recovering from opioid use, since it can reverse an overdose in an emergency.

Peer support through Narcotics Anonymous meetings can complement medical treatment for people navigating opioid use disorder, whether their path into dependence started with a prescription or otherwise.

Enter NA

Patients preparing for major surgery can ask their care team whether nerve blocks or other opioid-sparing techniques are available to reduce their opioid exposure from the start. 

For those already managing opioid use disorder, NA meetings and opioid treatment programs remain available locally. You can also find harm reduction resources such as naloxone distribution and fentanyl test strips. 

Getting started with NA can prevent a dependency before it gets out of control. Just call 800-934-1582(Sponsored) to chat with an expert about opioid addiction treatment options. You can also search our directory to locate NA meetings anywhere in the country.

New neuroscience research is sharpening what addiction specialists already understood about opioid addiction and drug dependence more broadly. Not all opioids carry the same addiction risk. Heroin and cocaine remain more addictive than other opioids in terms of their grip on the brain’s memory and reward circuitry, even though opioids overall remain the deadliest class of drugs due to overdose risk. 

For people living with opioid addiction or supporting loved ones who’re battling addiction, the findings help explain why relapse can happen even after long periods of sobriety and how treatment must address the brain, not just willpower.

Opioid Crisis Continues

Addiction psychiatrist Dr. Mark Golda and his team ranked illegal drugs specifically by addiction liability. They found that heroin placed highest among all of them, including other opioids, with cocaine and methamphetamine close behind. 

Separately, when researchers looked at overall harm, including toxicity, mental impairment, and harm to others, alcohol ranked as the most harmful legal drug, while heroin and cocaine ranked highest among illegal drugs for harm to individuals. Opioids as a class remain the drugs most likely to cause immediate death through overdose, even when specific opioids like heroin don’t top every ranking category.

Persistent Cravings and Relapse

It all comes down to molecular biology to explain why cravings persist for months or years after someone quits drugs. A transcription factor called ΔFosB accumulates in the brain with repeated drug exposure and can persist for weeks, unlike most gene regulators that clear within hours. 

This buildup isn’t unique to any single drug. In fact, a shared molecular signature across many addictive substances, including opioids, reshape the brain’s memory and reward circuitry in ways that make certain environmental cues, a place, a person, a smell, capable of triggering intense cravings long after physical withdrawal has ended.

Researchers point out that cravings aren’t just about willpower or personal weakness. Substance use disorder is increasingly understood as a chronic brain disease driven by pathological changes in neural circuitry, not moral failings. Even survivors of opioid overdose remain at elevated risk of dying in the year that follows should they relapse, a sobering reminder that overdose alone doesn’t always motivate a change in drug use.

Options for Opioids and Overdose Risk

Heroin’s particularly high addiction liability compared to other opioids doesn’t make prescription opioids safe by comparison. To be clear, all opioids carry real dependence and overdose risk. 

Naloxone, often sold as Narcan, can reverse an opioid overdose in progress. Naloxone remains among the most important tools available for preventing opioid deaths regardless of which opioid is involved.

Since relapse ties in with durable brain changes rather than a lack of willpower, harm reduction and medication-assisted treatment both play a critical role in recovery from opioid addiction. Prescriptions like buprenorphine and methadone help stabilize brain chemistry disrupted by chronic opioid use, giving people a more manageable path toward recovery.

Peer support also plays an important role for many people recovering from opioid and other drug addictions. Narcotics Anonymous meetings offer a place to connect with others who understand the day-to-day reality of staying in recovery.

NA Still a Top Option to Fight Opioid Addiction

If you or someone you love struggles with opioid addiction, help is available regardless of how long the addiction has lasted or how many times a previous attempt at quitting has not worked out.

Some folks find their first NA meeting overwhelming, but they quickly realize that they’re among colleagues who understand their experiences and don’t judge. Meetings are free, confidential and form fellowship that lasts a lifetime.

Get started. You can call 800-934-1582(Sponsored) to speak with an expert or browse our directory for chapters located anywhere in the U.S.

Nearly 17% of people testing positive for fentanyl also test positive for xylazine, a veterinary sedative with no approved use in humans, according to a national study of urine drug tests. The number is climbing, especially in parts of the country where xylazine barely showed up just two years ago.

The Opioid Crisis in Wastewater

Researchers analyzed 42,307 urine drug tests collected from patients in primary care, behavioral health, and substance use treatment settings between March 2023 and September 2025. All tested positive for fentanyl. Of those, 7,156 samples, or 16.91%, also tested positive for xylazine.

The trend lines tell the real story. In the Eastern United States, where xylazine has circulated for years, positivity climbed from 11.11% to 19.63% over the study period. The numbers peaked at 42.31% of samples in a single month. 

In the West, where xylazine essentially had no presence at the start of the study, positivity rose from 0% to 13.46%. It’s a sign that the drug has actively spread into markets that hadn’t seen it before.

Testing also found that people whose samples tested positive for heroin were more than twice as likely to also test positive for xylazine. Higher fentanyl concentrations also strongly linked to higher odds of xylazine detection. In other words, xylazine doesn’t show up at random. It travels with the heaviest exposure to other substances.

Driving the Trend

Interestingly, while more people test positive for xylazine, the actual concentration found in positive samples has dropped. In eastern states like New York, median xylazine levels fell sharply after an early 2023 peak. Researchers think manufacturers and distributors may be adjusting how much xylazine they mix into fentanyl, whether in response to reports of severe skin wounds and prolonged sedation, or because new state laws and restrictions on veterinary xylazine supplies make it harder to source in bulk.

That’s a mixed signal for people who use drugs. More positive tests means more people are being exposed to xylazine somewhere in their supply, even if any individual dose tends to be smaller than it once was.

Fentanyl’s Role

Fentanyl remains the driver of the opioid crisis, and this study only counted samples where fentanyl was already present. Now, xylazine rides along inside a fentanyl supply that’s already dangerous. Since xylazine isn’t an opioid, naloxone doesn’t reverse its sedative effects, so more people testing positive for both drugs together matters for how overdoses get treated on the ground.

Researchers also flagged medetomidine, a chemically similar veterinary sedative. Medtomidine is starting to show up as a possible replacement for xylazine in some markets, but wasn’t part of this study’s testing panel. That means the true scope of veterinary sedatives mixed into the fentanyl supply right now may be larger than these numbers capture.

Harm Reduction and Treatment Works

People who use drugs have a practical takeaway. A fentanyl test strip might confirm fentanyl but says nothing about what else it contains. Xylazine-specific test strips exist and are increasingly available through harm reduction programs, though access still varies by state and city.

Naloxone remains essential and should be carried by anyone using opioids or spending time with someone who does. Since xylazine keeps a person sedated even after naloxone reverses the opioid component of an overdose, calling emergency services after administering naloxone matters more than ever when xylazine exposure is a possibility.

Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), including methadone and buprenorphine, remains a first-line treatment option regardless of what adulterants are present in someone’s supply. 

Narcotics Anonymous meetings also offer ongoing peer support for people building a recovery plan around opioid use, whether or not they are using MOUD alongside it.

NA Still a Top Option

NA meetings remain a critical first step to recovery, from either fentanyl or any other substance. Meetings are free, confidential, and build fellowship that lasts a lifetime, through the good times and bad.

Getting started is easy. Just dial 800-934-1582(Sponsored) to speak with an expert about local opioid addiction treatment options. Or browse our directory to find chapters anywhere across the United States.

Federal drug agents say Interstate 25 remains a primary route for cartel-linked fentanyl trafficking through Wyoming, even as the state posts a significant drop in fentanyl overdose deaths compared with last year.

Fentanyl Seizures Already Exceed Last Year’s Total

Speaking in Cheyenne, U.S. Attorney Darin Smith and Drug Enforcement Administration officials said Wyoming has already seized nearly 6,000 fentanyl pills so far this year, surpassing the roughly 5,500 pills confiscated during all of 2025.

DEA Rocky Mountain Field Division Special Agent in Charge David Olesky said I-25, which connects Cheyenne, Casper, and Sheridan, remains a key transportation route for cartel-led trafficking organizations moving fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin through the state.

Federal officials said nearly all illicit fentanyl entering the country is manufactured by Mexico’s Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels using precursor chemicals shipped from China, then trafficked north through established smuggling corridors that reach states like Wyoming. Much of what circulates locally moves through distribution hubs in Denver and Salt Lake City before reaching Wyoming communities.

Overdose Deaths Are Down, but Risk Remains

Even with more fentanyl moving through the state, Wyoming recorded 54 opioid-involved fentanyl overdose deaths last year, down from 84 the year before, a decline of about 35 percent.

DEA laboratory testing now shows roughly three in every ten counterfeit pills seized nationwide contain a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl, down from about seven in ten in previous years.

Olesky cautioned that the improving trend does not mean people can let their guard down. “My number one advice to all is: don’t take a pill that doesn’t come directly from a licensed pharmacy and based on a prescription from your doctor,” he said.

Smith said Operation Take Back America has strengthened cooperation between local, state, and federal agencies to identify and prosecute drug traffickers operating in Wyoming, and that prosecutors intend to use every available resource to hold traffickers accountable, whether they are using the state’s highways, the mail, or stash houses to move narcotics.

Understanding Fentanyl and Naloxone

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid up to 50 times stronger than heroin, and even a small miscalculation in dosage can cause a fatal overdose. Counterfeit pills made to look like prescription opioids or other drugs frequently contain fentanyl without the buyer’s knowledge, which is why federal officials continue to warn against taking any pill that did not come directly from a pharmacy with a valid prescription.

Naloxone, sold under brand names including Narcan, can reverse an opioid overdose within minutes when administered promptly and is available without a prescription in most states.

Fentanyl test strips, which can detect the presence of fentanyl in a substance before use, are another harm reduction tool that public health officials increasingly recommend alongside naloxone access.

Harm Reduction and Treatment for Opioid Addiction

Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak said his deputies have made 186 drug-related arrests so far this year and credited partnerships with the DEA and Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation with helping connect people struggling with addiction to treatment programs when they are willing to seek help.

Whether someone is using fentanyl, heroin, or another opioid, medication-assisted treatment combined with peer support through Narcotics Anonymous meetings can significantly improve the odds of sustained recovery.

Finding Help for Opioid Addiction in Wyoming

Anyone in Wyoming struggling with opioid use can search Narcotics.com’s directory to find NA meetings to receive recovery support.

Naloxone distribution programs and fentanyl test strips are increasingly available through local harm reduction organizations across the state. Call 800-934-1582(Sponsored) for opioid addiction treatment options and referrals.

Physician prescribing practices, not just pharmaceutical marketing, played a critical role in fueling the nation’s opioid crisis, according to new research from the University of Notre Dame that adds important context to the ongoing opioid addiction epidemic.

The Opioid Crisis by the Numbers

Economists William Evans and Ethan Lieber, both from Notre Dame’s Department of Economics, analyzed National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey data from 1980 through 2015 and found that opioid prescribing for chronic pain shifted dramatically after 1995.

Before that year, about 7 percent of patient visits for conditions likely to cause chronic pain resulted in an opioid prescription. By 2015, that figure had climbed to 25 percent.

The researchers’ modeling suggests opioid-related deaths in 2015 would have been roughly 43 percent lower had 1995 prescribing levels held steady.

The study, published in the Journal of Human Resources, also found that counties with higher rates of Social Security Disability Insurance enrollment, a marker of higher chronic pain burden in a population, experienced disproportionately severe drug poisoning crises.

What’s Driving the Change

The shift traces back to 1995, when medical experts released a statement encouraging wider use of opioids to treat chronic pain. Physicians responded by prescribing far more aggressively over the following two decades.

Much of the public conversation and opioid litigation in recent years has focused on pharmaceutical marketing, and the researchers say their findings show that prescribing decisions by physicians themselves were also a major factor, separate from advertising campaigns.

According to the CDC, roughly 860,000 people in the United States have died from an opioid overdose since 1999, including nearly 318,000 deaths linked specifically to prescription opioids.

In 2024, opioids were involved in 73.4 percent of drug overdose deaths, and illegally manufactured fentanyl accounted for 65.1 percent of those opioid deaths, reflecting how the crisis has shifted from prescription pills toward illicit fentanyl over time.

Understanding Opioids and Overdose Risk

Opioids include prescription medications like oxycodone and hydrocodone as well as illicit drugs like heroin and fentanyl. All opioids carry overdose risk, which increases sharply when they are combined with other substances or when tolerance drops after a period of abstinence, such as after detox or incarceration.

Naloxone, sold under brand names like Narcan, can reverse an opioid overdose in progress and is available without a prescription in most states.

Harm Reduction and Treatment for Opioid Addiction

Regardless of how someone became dependent on opioids, whether through a legitimate prescription that grew into dependence or through illicit use, medication-assisted treatment with methadone, buprenorphine, or naltrexone remains the most evidence-based path to recovery.

Naloxone access and fentanyl test strips can reduce overdose deaths in the meantime, and NA meetings offer peer support for people at any stage of recovery from opioid or other drug addiction.

Finding Help for Opioid Addiction

Anyone whose opioid use started with a legitimate prescription and grew into something harder to control is not alone, and this pattern is common enough that researchers can trace it in national prescribing data.

Narcotics.com’s meeting directory can help people find NA meetings for peer support, and treatment referral options are available for anyone ready to explore opioid use disorder treatment, including medication-assisted treatment.

Four inmates at the West Baton Rouge Parish Jail in Louisiana received Narcan after a suspected overdose inside the facility’s booking area, according to the West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office. Authorities expect all four to recover. 

To be sure, Louisiana has many programs and harm reduction services to assist anyone who experiences an overdose. However, the incident in Baton Rouge represents the growing problem that corrections officials across the country struggle to contain. Synthetic drugs and other narcotics are finding their way past security and into the hands of people already in custody.

Tragedy at the Jail

According to Major Kevin Devall, the sheriff’s office’s Chief of Criminal Operations, the overdoses happened after a work-release inmate allegedly brought a substance known as Mojo into the jail. Mojo is a synthetic cannabinoid, sometimes described as similar to K2 or Spice, that users can spray onto paper and later smoked or ingested. This method of consumption makes Mojo difficult to detect through standard screening.

Devall relayed that they found the inmate intoxicated at a job site and returned him to the jail, where he went through a search and a body scanner. That’s when authorities discovered the inmate smuggled the drug in on paper. After the overdoses, prison officials took two affected inmates to the hospital by Acadian Ambulance, and two more via the West Baton Rouge Fire Department. The sheriff’s office says they’re reviewing and updating its screening procedures to prevent similar incidents.

A Problem Facing Jails Nationwide

Devall told local reporters that the challenge of keeping synthetic drugs out of correctional facilities is not unique to West Baton Rouge Parish. Jails and prisons around the country have reported similar incidents involving drugs soaked into paper, mail, or other everyday items that can slip past conventional contraband screening. 

Synthetic cannabinoids in particular are difficult to detect because their chemical makeup changes frequently, and standard drug tests are not always designed to catch every variant.

Looking at Synthetic Cannabinoids and Overdose Risk

Synthetic cannabinoids like Mojo, K2, and Spice are lab-made chemicals sprayed onto plant material or paper to mimic the effects of marijuana, but they’re not chemically related to THC. Cannabinoids can produce far more unpredictable and dangerous effects, including seizures, rapid heart rate, psychosis, and loss of consciousness. Since manufacturers create these drugs without any quality control, potency varies wildly from one batch to the next. This raises overdose risk even for people who believe they know what they are taking.

Narcan, also known as naloxone, is most effective at reversing opioid overdoses. In prisons, first responders and jail medical staff frequently administer naloxone any time a suspected overdose scenario presents itself, particularly if they don’t know the substance involved or the person’s history of use. Using Narcan as the first option reflects standard precautionary emergency response rather than a confirmed opioid presence.

Harm Reduction and Treatment Behind Bars

Correctional facilities face a unique set of harm reduction challenges. Those incarcerated often lack access to substance use treatment, naloxone education or peer recovery support compared to people outside. 

In Louisiana, advocates for people with substance use disorders continue to push for expanded access to overdose prevention education and medication assisted treatment. People in jail are often at their most vulnerable and fall prey to temptations and triggers. 

Narcotics Anonymous meetings inside jails and prisons remind inmates that their loved ones and the public still care. Proponents argue that incarceration is often a missed opportunity to connect people with care rather than just a consequence.

NA for Those in Incarceration

Whether you or someone you love faces incarceration, has recently released, or simply wants support, NA meetings and structured treatment programs exist. Enroll in one to help build a life without narcotic addiction. 

Start today. Call 800-934-1582(Sponsored) to find NA meetings or opioid and drug addiction treatment programs anywhere in the country. Receive information on treatment programs that address both drug dependence and the circumstances, like incarceration, that often complicate recovery. You can also browse our directory to see listings organized by location.

A new study finds that prenatal opioid exposure has far less influence on a child’s school performance than previously believed, once researchers accounted for factors like school quality, family income, and a mother’s education level. 

For families affected by opioid use, this study is one of the more encouraging findings to come out of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) research in recent years.

The Study’s Findings

Every 25 minutes in the United States, a baby is diagnosed with NAS, a condition where infants exposed to opioids in the womb develop withdrawal symptoms after birth. Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine compared standardized test scores for 3,494 students in grades three through eight, 23% of whom had a history of NAS and 77% of whom didn’t, using an integrated data system from South Carolina that links health, education, and socioeconomic records over time.

After controlling for age, sex, and socioeconomic factors, the two groups performed similarly on English and language arts tests. In math, students with a history of NAS showed a small but statistically significant drop compared to the control group. Overall, both groups scored below the state average at every grade level.

“Historically, we’ve been quick to blame prenatal opioid exposure for poor academic achievement, but it appears that socio-environmental factors play a much larger role,” reported Dr. Tammy Corr, a corresponding author and associate professor of pediatrics at Penn State. Corr optimistically added, “There’s every reason to believe that these children can do well and thrive when given the right resources.”

Driving the Trend

More than 30% of the children in the study were born to a mother with less than a high school degree, and 85% were either uninsured or covered by Medicaid at birth. The researchers found these markers of socioeconomic status more strongly linked to academic performance than NAS history itself. Attending a lower-rated school, limited access to early childhood education, and participation in the WIC nutrition program all played a larger role in outcomes than opioid exposure alone.

In the study, children of non-Hispanic Black mothers scored a grade level lower than their non-Hispanic white counterparts. Test scores rose as maternal education levels increased. Researchers say the South Carolina data, while state-specific, reflects socioeconomic and environmental patterns similar to those seen in NAS studies elsewhere in the country.

Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome

NAS occurs when a baby exposed to opioids before birth experiences withdrawal after delivery, usually because of drugs the mother took during pregnancy. Earlier research had linked prenatal opioid exposure to increased risk of developmental, cognitive, and behavioral difficulties in early childhood, but this study tracks outcomes into the school years while accounting for the broader circumstances these children grow up in.

Researchers plan to build on the findings with interviews of parents and guardians of school-aged children with a history of NAS. They want to understand the day-to-day experiences that help or hinder academic success.

Harm Reduction & Treatment During Pregnancy

For pregnant people using opioids, medically supervised care, including medication-assisted treatment, remains the safest path for both parent and baby, by reducing the risks associated with unsupervised withdrawal. This study doesn’t change that guidance. 

Instead, it reinforces that a child’s long-term outcomes depend heavily on the support systems available after birth. Stable housing, early childhood education, nutrition assistance and the mother’s own access to continued care and recovery resources all play critical roles for a healthy future.

Starting with NA

If you’re pregnant or parenting and affected by opioid use, treatment programs exist that address both recovery and family stability.

The easiest step–and a free one–is to sign up with Narcotics Anonymous. NA meetings offer peer support at every stage of recovery, and case management services can help connect families to WIC, early childhood education, and other resources shown to matter for a child’s long-term success.

Getting started is simple. Call 800-934-1582(Sponsored) and speak with an expert or browse our directory to find NA chapters anywhere in the USA.