Latest news with #opioidcrisis
CBS News
7 days ago
- CBS News
Fourth person sentenced to prison in connection with Minnesota's largest fentanyl bust
A judge on Wednesday sentenced a man to 10 years in prison for his role in a drug trafficking operation that led to the largest fentanyl bust in Minnesota history. Fo'Tre White's prison sentence will be followed by five years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl. White is the fourth person in the operation to be sentenced. Five more defendants have pleaded guilty to charges related to the bust and are awaiting their sentencing hearings. White and eight others are accused of purchasing fentanyl pills from suppliers in Phoenix, hiding them inside stuffed animals and mailing them to addresses around the Twin Cities. To prevent detection from drug-sniffing dogs, the packages were allegedly lined with dog treats. In all, the pills had an estimated value of over $2.2 million. Fentanyl was involved in more than 90% of all opioid-related deaths and more than 60% of all overdose deaths in the state in 2022, according to data from the Minnesota Department of Health.
CBS News
18-07-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Baltimore leaders discuss plan to combat opioid crisis near city's mass overdose site
Baltimore leaders discussed strategies for tackling the city's opioid crisis with residents in the same community where 27 people were hospitalized on July 10 in a mass overdose. Inside the Gethsamane Baptist Church, in the North Penn community, the Mayor's Office of Overdose Response presented its strategic overdose plan focusing on prevention, treatment, and recovery. On Thursday, scientists with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) said drug samples collected from the overdose site revealed a mix of drugs, including N-Methylclonazepam, an ingredient the NIST had not encountered before in street drugs. It can cause intense sedative and hypnotic side effects. A part of the mayor's plan calls for ramping up naloxone distribution (Narcan), possibly mobile treatment centers, and providing 24/7 access to treatment and support services. City leaders are asking for community input and suggestions on ways to eliminate drug overdoses. "It is a plan that is for the entire city, so getting feedback from community members about what the plan looks like and how it's going to show up in their community is really important for us to make sure we're getting it right," said Sara Whaley, executive director of the Mayor's Office of Overdose Response. With $400 million in settlement money from pharmaceutical companies now available to the city, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and his administration are looking to pour that money back into the community by funding resources to curb addiction. "If we want people to get help, we have to have that help there right there on the spot," Mayor Scott said. "This isn't a cookie-cutter thing. When someone is ready to get help or hits rock bottom or goes to something that makes them want to change, what is happening with them, we have to have people there to support that person in that moment, we cannot wait." Donald Young shared his story about fentanyl abuse. He said his mother died from an overdose in 2016. "I lost my mother in 2016 to a fentanyl overdose, and I suffered from substance use until I got clean," Young said. Young was one of dozens of residents in West Baltimore looking for solutions to end the opioid crisis. "We need to see more efforts like this at the prevention and not wait until there's a mass overdose," Young said. As the investigation is still ongoing, residents say they want to make sure mass overdoses don't happen again. "If it's constantly in our environment, then what else are we going to see? But we have to get more involved," resident Terrell Carpenter said. "We can't just talk and not do things. That's one of the reasons why I'm here." WJZ got a tour of the Tuerk House in West Baltimore, where some of the survivors of the mass overdose went for treatment. The survivors were referred to the Tuerk House by local hospitals in the immediate aftermath of the mass overdose. Their rooms are quiet and clinical, yet full of support, with 24-hour nursing staff and access to individual counseling. "One is downstairs and one is right here in this room," said Dr. Pierre Thomas. "We have a 50-year-old male patient who came here from the hospital. He's getting his detox. He has a full shower, we have providers, and peer support." Two additional listening sessions will be held in July: Read the Overdose Strategic Plan here.
New York Times
16-07-2025
- New York Times
Nicknames, Notes and a Waddle: How Colorado Fought a Bank Robbery Surge
Dressed in black pants, gloves, a ski mask and a white jacket, a man waddled into a Colorado bank on Jan. 2, 2024, and passed a handwritten note across the counter: 'Stay calm and I am not going to hurt you.' The teller, as trained, complied. The man left with $385 in cash — and a nickname. The Federal Bureau of Investigation would later call him the Penguin Bandit, a moniker born from his peculiar gait: a side-to-side shuffle that conjured the image of a windup toy or perhaps, yes, a penguin. But this was no isolated robbery. The Penguin Bandit was one in a parade of serial offenders who would help propel Colorado to lead the nation in bank robberies, per capita, for three years starting in 2021, according to F.B.I. statistics. Brian Dunn, an assistant U.S. attorney in Colorado, suggested that the Covid pandemic made it more acceptable for people to wear masks in public places, including banks. Also, as an opioid crisis deepened in Colorado, a growing number of people turned to increasingly reckless ways of sustaining their addictions, including robbing banks, law enforcement officials said. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
14-07-2025
- Health
- New York Times
The Heroin Pipeline That Linked New York to Vermont
Good morning. It's Monday. Today we'll look at a heroin network that stretched from the Bronx to Vermont, devastating families in both places. The opening scene is heartbreaking. An 18-month-old girl is crawling on her sleeping father, the kind of silly game that any parent who has ever tried to get five minutes of rest can relate to. But he doesn't wake up. He has overdosed on heroin. As my colleague Benjamin Weiser reports, that ending has become familiar to many families, too. For the past several years, Ben has been reporting on a heroin network that stretched from the Bronx to Vermont for a 4,750-word project with the headline 'How a Single Overdose Unraveled an Empire of Heroin.' The story begins in Rutland, Vt., with the death of David Blanchard III, 28, who overdosed in a motel room, with his girlfriend and their young daughter nearby. The article describes how a particular type of heroin, sold under the brand name 'Flow,' ensnared users, dealers, prosecutors and bystanders in a tangled weave of destruction across hundreds of miles. Fentanyl has taken the spotlight in the war on drugs, but the article shows how heroin fueled a crisis in Vermont just a few years ago. In 2012, Blanchard's heroin overdose was one of 50 opioid-related deaths in Vermont, Ben reports. By 2016, overdose deaths had doubled, to 106, and five years later, they had doubled again. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CTV News
11-07-2025
- Health
- CTV News
‘A crisis': Mother of man who died of carfentanil overdose warns of contaminated drug supply
Karen Cadieux (right), is seen in a photo with her son Stephen Kliend (left) who died of a carfentanil overdose on March 14, 2025. He was 42-years-old. (CTV News Edmonton) The mother of a son who died of a carfentanil overdose in March – the highest month for opioid-related deaths in Edmonton on record – is wondering why no public safety alerts are being issued about the toxic drug supply circulating in the city. 'There was carfentanil in his drug – and that's a death sentence,' Karen Cadieux told CTV News Edmonton. Carfentanil is known to be 100 times stronger than other varieties of fentanyl. Cadieux said that her son Stephen Kliend had been struggling with drug addiction for 20 years after his father died of cancer and his brother was killed at a house party. Kliend worked to recover from his meth addiction by going to voluntary treatment, joining the navy and going to university. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, the isolation became too much for him and he started using again, said Cadieux. 'For anyone who's trying to maintain recovery, the worst thing for them is isolation.' Cadieux said Kliend was very open and honest with her about his recovery journey. 'He would've never willingly taken that drug.' In March, 87 opioid-related deaths were recorded in the Edmonton area – the most since 2016 when the province began tracking them. CARFENTANIL Karen Cadieux, whose 42-year-old son died of a carfentanil overdose in March 2025, wonders why no public safety alerts are being issued about the tainted drug supply on Edmonton streets. (CTV News Edmonton) 'Me and 86 other families have been grieving since March,' said Cadieux. 'That's a crisis. I've never seen a notice about it. I've never seen an emergency report about this contaminated drug supply. We need to do better.' The figure is up dramatically compared to other health regions in Alberta. It's also higher than lower mainland B.C.'s figure from the same month – which includes both Vancouver and Fraser Valley with triple the population size. Neither the province or police are able to explain why more carfentanil deaths are happening in Edmonton. 'The illegal drug market fluctuates, and we cannot predict specific changes in a given market to target one substance specifically,' said a statement from the press secretary for Alberta's minister of mental health and addictions. CTV Kitchener: Carfentanil found in Ontario Edmonton police staff Sgt. Marco Antonio said police have been issuing alerts about carfentanil dating back to 2017, but these 'alerts' are about drug busts, not necessarily warning the public of bad drugs circulating on the streets. 'Carfentanil, just like any fentanyl, is super dangerous,' Antonio told CTV News Edmonton. 'The risk is significantly higher based on the fact that it's 100 times stronger than regular fentanyl. Antonio adds that drug traffickers will mix carfentanil with regular fentanyl and other drugs, but they don't know how to dose it properly. 'It's not done in a lab under proper circumstances,' he said. 'It's literally done with a blender in a basement.' Family doctor Ginetta Salvalaggio who treats people with drug addictions says encampment sweeps can cause users to lose contact with suppliers they know while large drug busts may force dealers to bring in something new. 'It doesn't really matter so much what the specific agent is so much as we are dealing with a drug supply that is uncertain, that is unpredictable,' said Salvalaggio. 'It might be carfentanil today and it might be benzodiazepines or tranquilizers tomorrow. 'We need to address this ongoing contaminated supply through a bunch of evidence-based harm reduction and treatment interventions.' Angie Staines, founder of 4B Harm Reduction Society, says 'drugs will always find a way.' 'The harder you stomp down on them, the more dangerous they get,' said Staines. 'There is nothing that is going to fix this. 'We can give wraparound care, safe consumption sites, drug testing strips, but in the end, until we deal with that drug supply, people won't stop dying.' Staines and the 4B outreach team are on the ground, speaking with people who are using fentanyl. Warnings about contaminated drug supply are typically communicated through word-of-mouth. Staines said people will tell her about substances they've come across, what they look like and what effects it had on them. 'We do not have anything specific that's for the general public,' said Staines on contaminated drug supply warnings. Last year, the Government of Saskatchewan implemented its Drug Alert System that lets people know if there are concerning substances in circulation. Anyone can sign up for the notifications. The app shows images of concerning substances and locations of where they're found as well as reports of overdoses that are difficult to reverse with naloxone, multiple overdoses in a specific area, multiple deaths or ICU admissions over a short period of time and more than expected numbers of people being seen by a paramedic or in hospital within a short period of time. Sask Drug Alert Saskatchewan launched its Drug Alert System in 2024, notifying the public of unsafe supply circulating in the province. (Government of Saskatchewan) 'The Drug Alert System is now playing a critical role in providing potentially life-saving information to the general public in a coordinated, consistent and timely manner,' said a statement from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health. Before the alert system was implemented, community-based frontline service providers had expressed a need for a method of communicating with the public about emerging threats in the drug supply. No data was available to determine if deaths or overdoses had gone down. The ministry did say more than 2,000 people were subscribed to the system. All subscribers are anonymous, but may include people who use drugs, their friends or family members, frontline service providers and other concerned community members, said the ministry.
