Tag: Fentanyl Crisis

President-Elect Trump Details Plan to End the U.S. Drug Addiction Crisis

Kaitlin Housler

President-elect Donald Trump plans to end the drug addiction crisis in America during his second term by approaching the issue from multiple avenues, specifically when it comes to targeting the import of drugs and drug precursors and providing those who are struggling with addiction additional resources to help with recovery.

The most recent data published by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) shows that 107,941 Americans died by drug overdose in 2022 which is double the number of individuals in 2015 that died from overdoses.

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Pennsylvania Senate Nominee Dave McCormick Pitches ‘Special Operations and Drones’ to Confront Fentanyl Cartels in Mexico

Tom Pappert
Dave McCormick

Republican U.S. Senate nominee Dave McCormick on Wednesday expanded on his previous position that the United States should use its military to strike cartel installations in Mexico behind the illegal exporting of fentanyl over the southern border.

McCormick told The Associated Press he envisions the precision use of military resources to destroy facilities behind fentanyl production or transportation, which he said the country’s leaders should consider terrorism.

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Former Davidson County Correctional Officer Charged over Fatal Fentanyl Overdose at Nashville Jail

Tom Pappert
Charles Kelley

A former correctional officer with the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office has been charged with involvement in the fatal 2023 fentanyl overdose of an inmate in a Nashville jail, the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) confirmed on Friday.

The police investigation into the circumstances behind the fatal overdose of 18-year-old Daniel Prisco at the Metro-Davidson County Detention Facility on Harding Place resulted in six arrests, according to the department, which revealed four of the accused are inmates at the jail.

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Pennsylvania Sheriff Endorses Dave McCormick After Losing Son to Fentanyl Overdose

Tom Pappert
James Ott and Dave McCormick

The Dave McCormick campaign for U.S. Senate released a video on Monday featuring the endorsement of Blair County Sheriff Jim Ott, who revealed his son died following a fentanyl overdose and condemned Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) and other Democrats for their inaction at the southern border.

In the video, Ott gave details about the loss of his son, Josh, who he said died following a battle with addiction that culminated in a fatal fentanyl overdose.

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Arizona Department of Education Creates ‘STOP-IT’ Program to Teach Dangers of Fentanyl, Place Emergency Narcan in Schools

Tom Pappert
Tom Horne

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne announced the creation of a new Arizona Department of Education (ADE) task force to educate students about the dangers posed by the synthetic opioid fentanyl and provide emergency Narcan for school staff to reverse potentially fatal overdoses.

Horne announced the formation of the School Training Overdose Preparedness and Intelligence Taskforce (STOP-IT) on Tuesday, revealing the new effort will educate children about the dangers of fentanyl and other opioids while providing schools with resources to save lives.

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Commentary: States Must Act Now to Save Rural Lives from Fentanyl Crisis

RealClearWire
Heidi Heitkamp

Across rural America, the expanding crisis of fentanyl-fueled overdoses is ravaging a generation. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fentanyl deaths in the U.S. have tripled since 2016, and initial data from 2022 indicates that synthetic opioids cause about 90% of all opioid overdose deaths – which translates to nearly 75,000 Americans killed in that year alone. Rural communities, where hundreds of hospitals have already closed and more are on the chopping block, are bearing the additional weight of overdoses. We need states to do more to protect Americans and ensure access to all overdose reversal agents that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Hidden in counterfeit prescription pharmaceuticals like Adderall, Xanax, and Oxycontin, it’s so lethal that just two milligrams, the size of a pencil tip, can kill. 

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