Tag: overdose

Tennessee Drug Dealer Sentenced to Prison After Overdose Death

Peter D'Abrosca

After employing an elaborate scheme to smuggle drugs into a Tennessee correctional facility, a man faces over seven years in prison after one of the recipients of his smuggled narcotics overdosed and died.

“On June 8, 2023, Michael Wayne Lee, 45 of Blaine, Tennessee, was sentenced to 87 months in prison by the Honorable Clifton Corker, United States District Judge, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Greeneville,” according to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee. “Following his imprisonment, Lee will be on supervised release for three years.”

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Bill Banning Injection Sites Passes Pennsylvania Senate, Awaits House Consideration

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s GOP-run state Senate this week passed legislation banning supervised injection sites, sending the bill to the state House. 

Such locations — also called “safe injection sites,” “safe consumption spaces” or “overdose prevention sites” — permit addicts to take illicit substances, mainly opioids, without fear of prosecution. Advocates of the injection centers say they are an important means of avoiding overdoses and drug-related disease transmission. The nonprofit Safehouse has been working to open such a location in Philadelphia. 

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Pennsylvania Senate Panel Passes Ban on Supervised Injection Sites

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday passed legislation banning supervised injection sites anywhere in the Keystone State. 

Under the bill sponsored by Senator Christine Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia), no locality in Pennsylvania could permit the operation of a center wherein people could take illegal substances without risking prosecution. Such locations which are also called “safe injection sites,” “safe consumption spaces” or “overdose prevention sites” aim to avert opioid overdoses and drug-related disease transmission. Opponents like Tartaglione say the sites more effectively worsen opioid addiction and the carnage it creates. 

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Wisconsin Attorney General: Agreements with CVS and Walgreens Over Opioid Crisis Finalized

Bradley Vasoli

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) announced on Thursday that his and numerous other states have finalized an agreement whereby the CVS and Walgreens pharmacy companies will pay $10.7 billion to those jurisdictions over opioid-epidemic concerns. 

The deal comes as a result of litigation by prosecutors across the nation alleging that the corporations failed to ensure that their pharmacies properly dispense painkillers, resulting in illegal trafficking and use of the drugs that has contributed to widespread deadly addiction. 

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Ohio Attorney General Announces Preliminary Agreement with Walmart on Opioid Addiction Liability

Bradley Vasoli

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) announced on Tuesday that he and 15 other state attorneys general have negotiated a preliminary deal with the multinational retailer Walmart, from which Ohio would get $114 million for opioid recovery programs.

The $3.1 billion national agreement comes after Yost and other prosecutors sought accountability for what they characterize as the superstore’s failure to safely and securely dispense high-strength prescription pain relievers through its more than 5,100 pharmacies across America. Other state prosecutor’s offices who worked alongside him include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, New York, Tennessee and Texas.
The agreement comes after Yost and other prosecutors sought accountability for what they characterize as the superstore’s failure to safely and securely dispense high-strength prescription pain relievers through its more than 5,100 pharmacies across America. Other state prosecutor’s offices who worked alongside him include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, New York, Tennessee and Texas.

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Commentary: Youngkin Is Right – Under Democrat Rule, Virginia Is a Border State

Admin

Recently, Virginia Democrats and dishonest mainstream media pundits have attempted to dunk on Governor Youngkin for saying that under Democrat rule, “Virginia is a border state.” But while Virginia doesn’t share a physical border with Mexico, Governor Youngkin’s comments nonetheless underscore a stark reality for Americans in Virginia and throughout the entire country – thanks to Joe Biden and failed Democrat policies, every state is now a border state.

Governor Youngkin’s comments on Fox News were in reference to the opioid crisis that is sweeping our nation – a crisis that Democrats are apparently oblivious to or unwilling to acknowledge is directly related to the surge of illegal immigration at our southern border. The entire country, not just border states, is experiencing a spike in fentanyl overdoses as thousands of pounds of the deadly narcotic pour into the country. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were more than 107,000 fatal drug overdoses in 2021, the highest number on record. In just the past two months, border patrol officers have seized more than 5 million fentanyl pills at just the border crossing in Nogales, Arizona.

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Tyler Shanafelter’s Mother Urges Law to Strengthen Fentanyl Dealer Sentencing

Bradley Vasoli

On Monday, Laura Shanafelter joined lawmakers at the Harrisburg Capitol’s East Wing Rotunda to urge passage of legislation named after her late son to strengthen sentences for fentanyl dealers.

Called “Tyler’s Law,” the measure sponsored by state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) would impose a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years on any fentanyl pusher who facilitated a sale resulting in someone’s death. The senator has lamented that these dealers often get sentences of only a few years in cases when investigation even occurs.

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Pennsylvania Senate Committee Passes Mastriano Bill to Strengthen Overdose Data Gathering

Bradley Vasoli

A Pennsylvania Senate panel this week passed a measure sponsored by Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) to strengthen the commonwealth’s tracking of overdoses.

All Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee supported the bill. It awaits consideration of the state House of Representatives.

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Two Indicted on Dark Web Fentanyl Conspiracy Charges Face 10 years in Prison, $10 Million in Fines

Addison Basurto
fentanyl pills on the hood of a vehicle

The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of Georgia has indicted two men on federal drug and money laundering charges for their participation in the facilitation of the importation and distribution of illegal narcotics, including fentanyl. 

“Pills in the underground drug market and on the Dark Web are often diluted with dangerous and deadly substances like fentanyl, as was the case in this investigation,” said Robert J. Murphy, the special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Atlanta Field Division.

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Historic Opioid Settlement Receives Final Approval, Tennessee Attorney General Announces

Cooper Moran

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery on Friday announced a final agreement between large opioid distributors, Johnson & Johnson, and attorneys general throughout the country.

According to the final details, Tennessee will receive approximately $600 million over 18 years to help combat the opioid crisis. The three distributors, Cardinal Health, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen, along with Johnson & Johnson, will begin to make payments on April 2, 2022.

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Arizona Overdose Deaths Skyrocket in 2020

The Center Square
Spilled pill bottle on table top with a spoon underneath

New data released from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show Arizonans turned to fatal doses of painkillers and other drugs amid the COVID-19 pandemic at a much higher rate than in other years. 

Overdose deaths in Arizona increased 33% to 2,743 from February 2020 to April 2021. Overdoses across the country increased 34% over the same time period. The change is a sharp uptick from years prior. From January 2015 to January 2020, the overdose death rate increased by 18%. 

According to CDC data, synthetic opioids such as Fentanyl accounted for nearly two-thirds of overdose deaths. Fentanyl is multiple times more potent than typical painkillers such as Oxycontin. The powerful opioid has become a popular drug to manufacture for the black market to smuggle across the southern border into California and Arizona, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

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Michigan Could Get $800 Million from Opioid Settlement

The Center Square
Close up of white pills

Michigan could receive $800 million under a proposed multibillion-dollar national opioid settlement, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said.

The settlement would involve Johnson & Johnson and the three largest pharmaceutical distributors in the country: Cardinal Health, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen.

The historic agreement would resolve the claims of state and local governments nationwide and require industry changes.

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Local Drug Enforcement Administration Chief Says Drug Cartels Are Doing ‘Anything and Everything’ to Smuggle Drugs Across the Southern Border

Admin
Houston Drug Enforcement Administration

Houston Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Daniel Comeaux says that the cartels operating south of the U.S.-Mexico border will continue to do everything in their power to get drugs into American communities, he told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an exclusive interview.

“Look, everyone needs to understand drug cartels are vicious, they’re violent and it’s all about the dollar bill. It doesn’t matter if it’s 2021 or 2020 or 2016, drug cartels are going to get their drugs across our border,” Comeaux said.

“They’re going to do everything and anything they can do to get their drugs across our border and that’s what they’re doing no matter what,” he added.

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Jury Finds Derek Chauvin Guilty on All Counts in the Death of George Floyd

The Center Square
Derek Chauvin

Less than a year after the death of George Floyd in police custody, a jury found former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.

Anger from the tragic death in police custody  on May 25, 2020, was fueled by a bystander filming part of the arrest, showing Floyd pinned under Chauvin’s knee for 9 minutes and 45 seconds, while he pleaded “I can’t breathe.” Floyd was declared dead later that day.

The video caused protests worldwide and pushed discussion of police accountability and proper levels of force for minor crimes, as Floyd was arrested for allegedly attempting to spend a fake $20 bill.

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Nashville’s Fatal Drug Overdoses So Far Surpass 2019 Total

Chris Butler

Nashville officials have recorded more fatal drug overdoses in the first nine months of 2020 than they did in all of 2019.

This, according to a press release that members of the Metro Public Health Department emailed late last week.

As The Tennessee Star reported in May, Nashville, at the time, had an increase in the number of overdoses since March. Mid-March was right around the same time that local, state, and federal officials in the United States first restricted people’s movements and other freedoms because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Google Parent Company to Open Treatment Center in Dayton, Ohio

Andrew Shirley

Alphabet Inc., the multinational conglomerate that both was established by and currently owns Google.com, has announced that they will be establishing an opioid treatment center in Dayton, Ohio. While this could be good news for a community that is still deeply in the midst of an opioid epidemic, the recent revelations about data collection by Google and other digital tech companies raise questions about the new treatment center. The effort, dubbed OneFifteen, will be headed by Andy Conrad, Ph.D. (pictured above) and housed in a new “tech enabled campus.” It will be an initiative of Verily, the development wing of Alphabet that deals with life sciences. The new facility was announced Wednesday in a blog post on the company website. The post points out the alarming statistics regarding opioid abuse and the intent of this new campus to treat these problems. It also explicitly notes that one of the biggest challenges to healthcare is a severe lack of data, most notably the data gaps. While this is undoubtedly accurate, there are many concerns with greater data aggregation. In recent years, data companies have proven themselves to be at best wildly irresponsible and at worst explicitly malicious in aggregating and then selling the personal data of individuals. The notion of this…

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Record-High 70,000 Americans Died of Drug Overdoses in 2017

Admin

by Evie Fordham   A record 70,000 Americans died of drug overdoses according to 2017 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Thursday, prompting experts to point to the proliferation of the potent substance fentanyl. The CDC’s 2017 data shows that 70,237 Americans died of drug overdoses. That represents a nearly 10 percent increase from 2016, when 63,632 Americans died of drug overdoses. West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania were the states hardest hit in 2017. Analysts warned that a growing amount of drugs are laced with dangerous substances like the synthetic opioid fentanyl when the CDC released preliminary 2017 overdose statistics in August. Provisional numbers suggest that 2018 will see a similar number of drug overdose deaths as in 2017, according to the CDC. Deaths involving fentanyl, its analogs and the opioid tramadol jumped 45 percent from 2016 to 2017 alone, according to CDC data. 2017 saw more than 28,000 deaths involving fentanyl or similar synthetic opioids. Fentanyl is most common in the eastern and midwestern U.S., where the opioid epidemic is most concentrated. Illicit fentanyl is often made in Mexico or China and cut into supplies of heroin or cocaine as it is stronger and cheaper than both…

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Tom Petty Died of Accidental Opioid Overdose: Family

Admin

American rocker Tom Petty died in October of an accidental drug overdose after taking a variety of medications for his ailments including a mix of opioid painkillers, his family and the Los Angeles county medical examiner said Friday. The autopsy report says the 66-year-old Petty had fentanyl, oxycodone, temazepam and other drugs in his system when he died of cardiac arrest. Petty’s wife Dana and daughter Adria said the medical examiner told them he “passed away due to an accidental drug overdose as a result of taking a variety of medications.”

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