Press

Fentanyl killed their son. Now theyโ€™re begging parents to understand the dangers

CNN โ€” 

It was every parentโ€™s worst nightmare.

Two days after Christmas 2020, Chris Didier went into his son Zachโ€™s bedroom in their home near Sacramento. The accomplished student, school theater actor and athlete was unresponsive at his desk โ€“ his head lying on his arm.

โ€œI could feel before I even touched him that something was horribly wrong,โ€ said Chris.

Read the full story and watch the video on CNN.com

A major drugmaker plans to sell overdose-reversal nasal spray Narcan over the counter

Drug maker Emergent BioSolutions is seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration to sell Narcan over the counter, without need for a prescription.

The medication, an easy-to-use nasal spray version of the drug naloxone, has a strong track record reversing deadly opioid overdoses, which have soared in recent years largely because of the spread of fentanyl.

Read the full article on the NPR web site.

Fayetteville man charged after Harnett County man dies of drug overdose

A Harnett County man who died of a drug overdose has led to a Fayetteville man’s arrest.

On Sunday, first responders found a 53-year-old man unresponsive at a residence on Roger Curtis Lane in Spring Lake.

A Harnett County Sheriff’s Office investigationย revealed the man had purchased narcotics from Lamont McKoy Jr., a 31-year-old from Fayetteville.

Read the full article and watch the video on the WRAL News web site.

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More teenagers dying from fentanyl. โ€˜It has a hold on me, and I donโ€™t know whyโ€™

The summer before 14-year-old Alexander Neville would have entered high school, he sat both of his parents down at the kitchen table in their Aliso Viejo home and told them heโ€™d been taking Oxycontin pills he bought on Snapchat.

He had self-medicated with pot in the past, but this was different.

โ€œIt has a hold on me, and I donโ€™t know why,โ€ he told them in 2020.

Alexanderโ€™s mother, Amy Neville, said they called a treatment program the next day and were waiting to hear back on rehab facilities. Alexander got a haircut, went to lunch with his dad and said goodnight to his parents before going up to his bedroom at the end of the day.

Read the full article on the LA Times web site.

As fentanyl drives overdose deaths, mistaken beliefs persist

Lillianna Alfaro was a recent high school graduate raising a toddler and considering joining the Army when she and a friend bought what they thought was the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in December 2020.

The pills were fake and contained fentanyl, an opioid that can be 50 times as powerful as the same amount of heroin. It killed them both.

โ€œTwo years ago, I knew nothing about this,โ€ said Holly Groelle, the mother of 19-year-old Alfaro, who lived in Appleton, Wisconsin. โ€œI felt bad because it was something I could not have warned her about, because I didnโ€™t know.โ€

Read the full article on the AP web site.

Do You Know What A Pill Press Is?

Drug counterfeiters can acquire a pill press and a counterfeit pill mold to churn out counterfeit medications for less than $500. Unfortunately, “garage manufacturers” are not careful about manufacturing controls, and their products often contain fatal doses of fentanyl or other drugs. Since 2015, bootleg prescription drugs made with machines like these have killed unsuspecting Americans in 37 states.

The Partnership for Safe Medicines has more information about Pill Presses on their web site.

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