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Study Links Doctor Prescribing Habits to Opioid Crisis
A community-wide effort in Manatee County, Florida, has driven a 56% reduction in opioid overdose deaths between 2023 and 2024, according to data from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. The county once led overdose deaths in The Sunshine State, but a combination of rehab programs and grassroots efforts like Narcotics Anonymous has cut those numbers …
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Missouri Hospital Speeds Opioid Treatment After ER Visits
For someone leaving an emergency room in withdrawal, the days before their next opioid addiction treatment appointment are often the most dangerous. Now, a Missouri hospital system says closing that gap has nearly tripled patient engagement. The Show-Me State has long featured many programs for substance misuse, including local Narcotics Anonymous chapters, and these expanded …
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Fentanyl Tolerance Raises Overdose Risk After Relapse
New research helps explain two things people in recovery from opioid use disorder have reported for years. Quitting fentanyl feels different, and relapse and overdose risk after time away from the drug is far more dangerous than people expect. A UCLA-led study finds that people who use illicit fentanyl daily in Los Angeles can build …
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Sea Snail Venom Fuels Shows Promise as Non Opioid Painkiller
Amid an opioid crisis that keeps claiming lives, the search for a non-opioid painkiller has taken scientists to an unlikely place: the venom of a sea snail. Researchers have highlighted how cone snail venom already produces one powerful pain medicine that carries no known risk of opioid addiction, and scientists believe it could lead to …
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Wisconsin Opioid Overdose Deaths Fall 35 Percent Since 2022
Wisconsin residents are seeing a sharp decline in overdose deaths after years of record losses. The downward trend offers cautious hope to people affected by opioid addiction and the communities working to fight it. Overdose deaths in the state hit a record high of 1,830 in 2022, then fell more than 35% by 2024, according …
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Kratom Poison Calls Jump 1,200% as US Oversight Lags
Calls to US poison centers involving kratom rose 1,200% between 2015 and 2025, according to the CDC. In Maine, physicians are now seeing more emergency visits tied to the unregulated, opioid-like substance. Even though The Pine Tree State features an abundance of inpatient programs and local Narcotics Anonymous chapters for residents, the kratom trend sits …
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Opioid Settlement Funds Could Aid Grandparents Raising Kids
The opioid crisis continues to leave a long trail, and some of the people carrying its weight are grandparents. As opioid addiction has pulled parents out of children’s lives through death or active substance use, older relatives have stepped in to raise the next generation. Now a handful of states plan to use opioid settlement …
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California Drug Bust Nets $2.1M in Fentanyl, Counterfeit Adderall
A routine probation check in Southern California has again shown how counterfeit pills and fentanyl move through the illicit drug supply. Investigators in Ventura County uncovered about a pound of fentanyl and 85,000 counterfeit Adderall pills as part of a seizure officials valued at roughly $2.1 million. The news has caught many residents by surprise. …
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DEA Moves to Schedule Kratom Compound 7-OH as Opioid
A substance once marketed as a natural remedy is drawing federal action and personal warnings from the people who used it. Current and former users described kratom and its derivatives, especially its concentrated compound 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH, as an addictive substance like opioids that upended their lives. Their accounts line up with what regulators and …
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DEA Warns Fentanyl Risk High for US World Cup Visitors
As Seattle co-hosts the FIFA World Cup 2026, federal officials are warning the hundreds of thousands of fans arriving in the city that the illicit drug supply they may encounter is more dangerous than they realize. The DEA’s Seattle Field Division has launched a fentanyl awareness campaign timed alongside the tournament to remind visitors and …
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