Breaking News Archives - Page 46 of 49 - Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina

Parents, here are tips to save your teens from fentanyl

Pediatricians like me aren’t used to our patients dying. Most children and teens are healthy and thrive, and although some might experiment with drugs, teen overdoses are relatively uncommon. A rising threat, however, is forcing all of us – especially parents – to grapple with a new reality.

Scott Hadland

Just-released data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that in 2021 more teens than ever before died of overdoses, driven by increasingly potent and dangerous drugs. Overdoses are now the third leading cause of death in US children under age 20, killing more than 1,100 teens each year – the equivalent of a school classroom every week.

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

What congress can do about illicit fentanyl

Photos of Americans who died from a fentanyl overdose are displayed at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, on July 13, 2022. (Photo by Agnes Bun/AFP via Getty Images)

On Jan. 3, a new U.S. Congress will be sworn into office for the 118th time in our nation’s history. Sadly, for the first time ever, these new and returning legislators will assume office under the dark milestone of more than 100,000 drug-related deaths in the past year — an all-time high. Congress can and must act quickly at the national level to turn this deadly tide.

With drug-related fatalities at an all-time high and likely going higher, it’s clear that the status quo isn’t working. New policy approaches matched with recent innovations in treatment are necessary to overcome the stratospheric overdose rate.

Read the full article on The Hill web site or download article PDF.

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Narcan kits installed in high schools to fight teen overdoses

A growing number of schools are installing kits stocked with naloxone, also known as Narcan, amid an alarming surge in teen overdoses. NBC News’ Morgan Radford reports from Camden County, New Jersey, to learn about one district’s plan to protect students as dangerous fentanyl becomes more prevalent.

View the original NBC News story on YouTube or the article and video on WRAL.com.

Poisoned: America’s Fentanyl Crisis | ABCNL

In part three of a series, Bob Woodruff watches a drug seizure at the U.S.-Mexico border, speaks with a convicted drug dealer and one sheriff who is fighting to keep people like him off the streets.

Fentanyl killed their son. Now they’re begging parents to understand the dangers

CNN —

It was every parent’s worst nightmare.

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

“I could feel before I even touched him that something was horribly wrong,” said Chris.

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

Hidden Fentanyl Is Driving a Fatal New Phase in US Opioid Epidemic

Bloomberg has posted an article which has a detailed analysis of the increase of fentanyl related deaths over the past decade. The article contains a number of dynamic graphics and should be viewed on the Bloomberg web site. The graphic above is just one of the many graphics included in the article.

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.

FVNNC is officially a non-profit!

The Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina has officially been recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Status has been assigned retroactively to August 29, 2022. All dontations, including past donations, are now considered tax deductable.