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The Lazarus Drug
Patrick Semansky/AP

Hidden Brain

The Lazarus Drug

More than 70,000 people died of drug overdoses in 2017 — many of them from heroin and other opioids. One of the most widely-used tools to confront this crisis is a drug called naloxone. It can reverse an opioid overdose within seconds, and has been hailed by first responders and public health researchers. But in 2018, two economists released a study that suggested naloxone might be leading some users to engage in riskier behavior — and causing more deaths than it saves. This week, we talk with researchers, drug users, and families about the mental calculus of opioid use, and why there's still so much we're struggling to understand about addiction. This episode originally aired in October 2018.

The Lazarus Drug

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Lethal Opiates Delivered By Mail From China, Killing Addicts In The U.S.

A drug lethal enough to be used as a chemical weapon — called carfentanil — has made its way into the illicit opiate trade. UniversalImagesGroup/UIG via Getty Images hide caption

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UniversalImagesGroup/UIG via Getty Images

Asia

Lethal Opiates Delivered By Mail From China, Killing Addicts In The U.S.

Carfentanil's a highly potent opioid. It is blamed for hundreds of lethal overdoses. Much of it reaches the U.S. from China, via the U.S. Postal Service. Now, China's announced a ban on the substance.

Lethal Opiates Delivered By Mail From China, Killing Addicts In The U.S.

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China Blacklists Carfentanil, Closing A Deadly Loophole

Members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police go through a decontamination procedure after intercepting a package containing around 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of the powerful opioid carfentanil, imported from China to Vancouver. China has now added the drug to its list of controlled substances. AP hide caption

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AP

The Two-Way

China Blacklists Carfentanil, Closing A Deadly Loophole

The opioid carfentanil is roughly 10,000 times more potent than morphine — but until now, it hasn't been a controlled substance in China.

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