drug overdose

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Life Expectancy Is on the Rise Again, With Caveats

COVID and drug overdoses still pose an issue, per the CDC

(Newser) - Life expectancy in the United States is on the upswing once again, its first positive motion in two years. NPR reports on new CDC stats that show in 2022, the average came in at 77.5 years, an increase from the 76.4 years set in 2021. But both COVID...

Cops: Alleged Husband Killer May Have Learned From Mom

Kouri Richins's mother, Lisa Darden, also had a partner die from overdose, writes detective

(Newser) - Accused of altering a life insurance policy before murdering her husband with a dose of fentanyl bought from a housekeeper , then selling a book about grief , Kouri Richins may not have acted alone, according to police. In a recently unsealed search warrant affidavit, a detective describes a long-ago incident involving...

More Drug ODs Now Come From Smoking, Not Injecting
More Overdoses Now Come
From Smoking, Not Injecting
new study

More Overdoses Now Come From Smoking, Not Injecting

CDC flags the drug stat, which is linked to the rise of fentanyl use

(Newser) - A new CDC report flags a notable stat related to the rising use of fentanyl: For the first time, more fatal overdoses come from smoking drugs than injecting them.
  • From early 2020 to late 2022, smoking overdose deaths surged 74% while injection overdose deaths fell 29%, reports the AP .
  • Overall,
...

Early Toxicology Reports May Shed Light on 3 KC Fans' Death

Source tells TMZ that the men allegedly showed traces of coke, fentanyl; cops await fuller tests

(Newser) - Three friends and fellow fans of the Kansas City Chiefs who were found dead outside a residence in the Missouri city were said by the homeowner to have frozen to death. Now, early toxicology results suggest there may be more to the story. Sources tell TMZ that preliminary reports have...

Well-Known Adult Film Star Found Dead With Boyfriend

Police believe the couple overdosed

(Newser) - Police called to perform a welfare check at a home in Moore, Oklahoma, on Wednesday morning found an adult film star and her boyfriend dead. Causes of death have not yet been determined for Jesse Jane and Brett Hasenmueller, but police believe drug overdoses are to blame, Fox 25 reports....

Dana Carvey on Grief: 'Make Sure That You Keep Moving'

Comedian returns to his podcast 2 months after son's death, talks about riding the 'pain train'

(Newser) - It's been two months since Dex Carvey, the 32-year-old son of Dana Carvey and his wife, Paula Zwagerman, lost his life in an accidental drug overdose. Now, the former Saturday Night Live comedian is opening up about his grief, shedding some light on the "private journey" he and...

The Opioid Crisis Is Crossing Over to Something Darker

Experts struggle to treat multi-drug use as opioid users turn to meth and other stimulants

(Newser) - The opioid epidemic has become an uphill battle with the rise of fentanyl on the streets, but experts are seeing an even scarier trend. The New York Times reports that people addicted to drugs are more likely to use multiple substances now, combining a cocktail of uppers and downers that...

More Pregnant, Postpartum Women Dying of Overdoses
More Pregnant, Postpartum
Women Dying of Overdoses
new study

More Pregnant, Postpartum Women Dying of Overdoses

Study finds ratio jumped between 2018 and 2021

(Newser) - A January study found mortality rates for pregnant women and new mothers worsened during the pandemic, and a new study zeroes in on one such cause: overdoses. Researchers with the National Institute on Drug Abuse reviewed data on more than 17,000 deaths over the 2018 to 2021 period; STAT...

Ohio Woman Is Alleged Serial Killer
Serial Killer Suspect
Pleads Not Guilty
updated

Serial Killer Suspect Pleads Not Guilty

Rebecca Auborn is accused of drugging 5 men in Ohio, 4 of whom died

(Newser) - An Ohio woman who police say fatally drugged four men pleaded not guilty to 28 charges at an arraignment Monday and will be held in jail awaiting trial after waiving her chance for bond. Rebecca Auborn's pleas were entered through her attorney, Mark Hunt, the Columbus Dispatch reports. Investigators...

When Drug Users Fear They'll Die Alone, They Call Her
She Has Learned What a
Fatal Overdose Sounds Like
longform

She Has Learned What a Fatal Overdose Sounds Like

Meet an operator for Never Use Alone

(Newser) - Jessica Blanchard has become an expert in knowing when an overdose is likely to be fatal—all by listening to the person on the other end of the phone line. Writing for Slate , Mary Harris and Aymann Ismail explain Blanchard is an operator for Never Use Alone. It's a...

Dealer Pleads Guilty in Death of Wire Star
Dealer Gets 10 Years
in Death of Wire Star
UPDATED

Dealer Gets 10 Years in Death of Wire Star

Irvin Cartagena supplied fentanyl-laced heroin that killed Michael K. Williams

(Newser) - The man who sold Michael K. Williams the drugs that killed him has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison. The actor, best known for his roles in The Wire and Boardwalk Empire, died after taking fentanyl-laced heroin he bought from Irvin Cartagena in Brooklyn on Sept. 5, 2021....

Trial to Begin in Dentist's 'Depraved Heart' Murder Case

James Ryan is accused of supplying his young girlfriend with anesthesia drugs

(Newser) - Jury selection begins Monday in a high-profile murder case in Maryland involving a dentist accused of supplying his girlfriend with anesthesia drugs he took from his office, reports the Washington Post . Defense lawyers for James Ryan, now 50, will argue that he didn't kill 25-year-old Sarah Harris but that...

Elderly Drug Dealer Sentenced in Wire Actor's Death

72-year-old got 2.5 years in prison

(Newser) - One of the men arrested in the overdose death of The Wire actor Michael K. Williams was on Tuesday sentenced to two and a half years behind bars. Carlos Macci, 72, pleaded guilty in April to possessing and distributing narcotics, NBC News reports. "I would like to say, your...

De Niro Grandson Dies at 19
De Niro's Daughter:
Fentanyl Killed My Son
UPDATED

De Niro's Daughter: Fentanyl Killed My Son

'Someone sold him fentanyl laced pills that they knew were laced yet still sold them to him'

(Newser) - Robert De Niro's eldest daughter says her son was killed by pills laced with fentanyl. In a comment on an Instagram post , Drena De Niro blamed drug dealers for the death of 19-year-old Leandro De Niro-Rodriguez, NBC reports. "Someone sold him fentanyl laced pills that they knew were...

US Army Sees Record Number of Fatal ODs From This Drug

Fentanyl is hitting all military branches, but none as hard as the Army, and loved ones want answers

(Newser) - Earlier this year, Congress received some sobering data from the Department of Defense showing that fentanyl was involved in 88% of the 2021 deaths of US troops who'd died of drug overdoses—up from just 36% five years earlier. "Our military is not immune to the opioid epidemic,...

US to Study Controversial Idea for Drug Users

$5M will go toward looking at 2 'safe injection sites' in New York and Rhode Island

(Newser) - For the first time, the US government will pay for a large study measuring whether overdoses can be prevented by so-called safe injection sites, places where people can use heroin and other illegal drugs and be revived if they take too much. As the AP reports, the grant provides more...

Man Found Dead on Work Trip Encountered Drugs, Prostitutes

Nathan Millard, found with fentanyl in system, died of accidental drug overdose: report

(Newser) - Nathan Millard, the Georgia businessman whose body was found wrapped in plastic in Baton Rouge earlier this month, died of an accidental drug overdose, authorities say. A toxicology report shows the 42-year-old father of five had fentanyl, cocaine, and ethanol (alcohol) in his system at the time of death. Police...

Narcan Could Soon Be Available Over the Counter

FDA panels support change making overdose-reversing drug much more widely available

(Newser) - Two panels of Food and Drug Administration advisers have unanimously recommended that Narcan be made available over the counter, a move that could help reduce deaths in the ongoing opioid epidemic. The overdose-reducing nasal spray, known generically as naloxone, is already widely used by first responders and outreach workers. But...

Police: Fentanyl Killing Teens May Have Come From One Home

Authorities say adults in home distributed pills to teens who sold them to other teens

(Newser) - Police say 10 students ages 13 to 17 have overdosed on fentanyl, three of them fatally, since September in the Carrollton area near Dallas, Texas—and the pills in question may all have come from one house. The students involved attend or attended RL Turner High School, Dewitt Perry Middle...

US Life Expectancy Falls for Second Year in a Row

COVID, overdoses were main culprits in 2021's figures, CDC says

(Newser) - More than 20 years of gradual increases in American life expectancy have been wiped out by the twin plagues of COVID-19 and opioid overdoses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency has released its final estimates for 2021, and "it's not a good year...

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