Elena (left) and Vadim pose for a photo in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Feb. 26. Rachel Wisniewski for NPR hide caption
overdose overdose
Stories About
overdose
Monday
Wednesday
Esther Nesbitt lost two of her children to drug overdoses, and her grandchildren are among more than 320,000 who lost parents in the overdose epidemic. Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images hide caption
Friday
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken speaks Friday at the 67th Session of the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, Austria. Theresa Wey/AP hide caption
Saturday
Drug-related street crime in Portugal has dropped along with overdoses. "There's an impression in the U.S. that if you decriminalize drugs, it's a wild west," said Miguel Moniz at the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon. "That hasn't been the case in Portugal." Brian Mann/NPR hide caption
Thursday
Matt Capelouto, whose daughter died from a fentanyl overdose, speaks at a news conference outside the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, April 18, 2023. Capelouto is among dozens of protesters who called on the Assembly to hear fentanyl-related bills as tension mounts over how to address the fentanyl crisis. (AP Photo/Tran Nguyen) Tran Nguyen/AP hide caption
In 2023 fentanyl overdoses ravaged the U.S. and fueled a new culture war fight
Tuesday
Critics say U.S. government training videos like this one from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exaggerate fears of fentanyl exposure among police. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hide caption
Cops say they're being poisoned by fentanyl. Experts say the risk is 'extremely low'
Saturday
Emily Ligawiec (right) and Officer John Cacela take weekly pottery classes together in Ware, Mass. Rather than arrest Ligawiec last winter when she took heroin and stole her mom's car, he offered her help. Karen Brown/New England Public Radio hide caption
Police Offering Drug Recovery Help: 'We Can't Arrest Our Way Out Of This Problem'
Wednesday
The MX908 can check for the presence of fentanyl mixed with other drugs and such testing may help prevent overdoses. Sarah Mackin of the Boston Public Health Commission prepares the machine for testing some samples. Jesse Costa/WBUR hide caption
Built For Counterterrorism, This High-Tech Machine Is Now Helping Fight Fentanyl
Monday
Wednesday
In Massachusetts last July, several Franklin County Jail inmates were watched by a nurse and a corrections officer after receiving their daily doses of buprenorphine, a drug that helps control opioid cravings. By some estimates, at least half to two-thirds of today's U.S. jail population has a substance use or dependence problem. Elise Amendola/AP hide caption
County Jails Struggle With A New Role As America's Prime Centers For Opioid Detox
Wednesday
Paramedic Larrecsa Cox (center) and her quick-response team, including police Officer Stephanie Coffey (left) and Pastor Virgil Johnson (right), check in at the home in Huntington, W.Va., of someone who was revived a few days before from an overdose. Sarah McCammon/NPR hide caption
Knocking On Doors To Get Opioid Overdose Survivors Into Treatment
Monday
Some sixty "Opiod Overdose Kits" have been added defibrillator boxes in Bridgewater State University dorms and academic buildings like this one. Tovia Smith / NPR hide caption
On College Campuses, Making Overdose Medication Readily Available
Monday
Bystanders To Fatal Overdoses Increasingly Becoming Criminal Defendants
Monday
The Surgeon General recommends more Americans carry naloxone, the opioid overdose antidote. Jake Harper/Side Effects Public Media hide caption
Reversing An Overdose Isn't Complicated, But Getting The Antidote Can Be
Side Effects Public Media
Reversing An Overdose Isn't Complicated, But Getting The Antidote Can Be
Tuesday
Hospital emergency departments are tasked with saving the lives of people who overdose on opioids. Clinicians and researchers hope that more can be done during the hospital encounter to connect people with treatment. FangXiaNuo/Getty Images hide caption