Latest news with #opioids
The Independent
a day ago
- Health
- The Independent
Warning over synthetic opioid in blue-green pills linked to London nightclub deaths
Two people in their twenties have died in London after allegedly consuming a super-strong opioid drug, believed to be a nitazene, which can be hundreds of times stronger than heroin. The victims, a 20-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man, reportedly took the drug after visiting a club in south London over the May bank holiday weekend. Nightclub the Ministry of Sound issued a warning about blue-green pills marked with '80' being sold across London, which are suspected to contain synthetic opioids, ketamine, and MDMA, and are being mis-sold as ecstasy or oxycodone. Professor Fiona Measham, founder of drug checking charity The Loop, told The Times there had been two nitazene-related deaths per week in the UK, with the latest deaths appearing to leap from dependent to recreational users. The Metropolitan Police are investigating the deaths and awaiting toxicology results, while the Home Office stated they are working to tackle the threat from synthetic opioids but cannot endorse recreational drug testing.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Millions take more than 10 pills a day. Now doctors warn results can be catastrophic, patients aren't being told - and the drug cocktails you must avoid
Tony Courtney Brown was a far-from-well man when he was taking 24 tablets a day for half a dozen complaints. Then in his early 60s, he was being treated for depression with three antidepressants, and was given higher and higher doses of the opioid painkiller tramadol, along with gabapentin, both for back pain.
CTV News
6 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Northern Ont. police seize $836K in drugs, $126K in cash
This police video shows the seized drugs suspected to be 7.2 kg of cocaine, 1 kg of meth, 2.8 grams of fentanyl, 295 oxycodone tablets and other drugs.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
CDC: Ohio helps lead charge in overdose death decreases
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Recently released statistics from the CDC are shedding a light on drug overdose deaths in the nation. Ohio had one of the biggest declines in predicted deaths last year compared to 2023. 'The numbers really speak for itself,' Hanad Duale, president of recovery support organization the UNIK Foundation, said. 'These numbers are extremely encouraging for us as clinicians.' There are several organizations in central Ohio leading the charge in prevention, including UNIK Foundation and This Must Be The Place. Both nonprofits received the fourth round of state opioid and stimulant grant funds, which has helped them provide much needed resources to prevent and decrease opioid overdoses. The organizations said the new numbers are encouraging but there's still a lot of work that needs to be done. Parents face charges after unlicensed, underage teen hits police cruiser 'Nothing makes me more proud than to say I'm from Columbus, Ohio, the state that is leading the way in overdose prevention,' William Perry, director of outreach operations at This Must Be The Place, said. According to the data released by the CDC, all but two states saw declines in overdose deaths last year with some of the biggest in Ohio and other states that have been hard-hit in the nation's decades-long overdose epidemic. 'Every morning that I wake up, I cannot help but think how I am blessed to have made it on the other side of this and that I'm able to give back in the very neighborhoods and streets that I know are in so much need because I lived there,' William Perry, director of outreach operations at This Must Be The Place, said. Nationwide, there were 30,000 fewer deaths in 2024 than the year before, the largest one-year decline ever recorded. Ohio emerged as a leading state with a more than 35% decline. Local organizations leading the charge in prevention attribute a lot of this to the continued investment at the state level. 'What's really important and what Ohio has done is remove the bipartisan element to overdose prevention and just say, 'no, we will not stand for this anymore,'' Perry said. 'We will not stand for our residents dying.' Bill would ban certain people from buying land in Ohio Local organizations said the only way out of the opioid epidemic is everyone working together. 'By tackling mental health and substance abuse, we keep families together, and that reduces the overall burden on the taxpayer,' Duale said. 'That reduces the overall burden on schools, on teachers.' But as funding dwindles, organizations say there's a lot of uncertainty about how this will impact the work they're doing in the community. 'When people think of the loss of federal funding, they think of that as like a nationwide problem,' Perry said. 'But in the cutbacks of the NARCAN distribution funds, those are funds that come directly to the states.' Therefore, the states don't have money or are going to have diminished amounts of money to purchase this very expensive medicine. 'Access is the key thing here,' Duale said. 'Access leads to prevention and prevention hopefully would decrease the numbers.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
A senator is pressing Spotify over fake podcasts that peddled opioids
Sen. Maggie Hassan is demanding answers from Spotify over fake podcasts that pushed opioids. In a letter, Hassan asked Spotify to "take action" on the phony content. Hassan's letter comes after a BI investigation found 200 podcasts on Spotify peddling opioids. A senator is demanding answers from Spotify about its handling of fake podcasts that promoted opioids and other prescription drugs. In the wake of a Business Insider investigation that found 200 phony podcasts on Spotify advertising the sale of pills, often without a prescription, Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire urged the digital music and podcast company to moderate its content better. Some of the podcasts were removed after BI previously flagged them to Spotify. "I urge you to take action to prevent fake podcasts that facilitate the illicit sale of drugs — including those that could contain fentanyl — from appearing on your platform," the two-term Democratic lawmaker said in a letter to Spotify CEO Daniel Ek. "Addressing these threats requires an all-hands-on-deck approach, and based on recent reports, Spotify has not exercised the level of diligence needed," she continued. Spotify didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Earlier this month, in response to BI's investigation, a Spotify spokesperson said: "We are constantly working to detect and remove violating content across our service." Many lawmakers across the United States have long sought to address the scourge of opioid abuse, which increasingly comes in the form of fentanyl. Fentanyl trafficking is a major issue for President Donald Trump, who has accused Mexico, Canada, and China of allowing the drug to be transported into the United States. Trump imposed tariffs on those countries in part to force them to do more to stem the flow of fentanyl. In her letter, Hassan, a former governor, spoke of the "heart-wrenching conversations" that she's had with constituents in her state who've lost family members or friends to drug overdoses. "The scale of the fentanyl crisis requires cooperation among law enforcement, online platforms, and international partners to protect our communities," she said. Hassan also asked Spotify to detail its moderation tools and policies and inquired about the number of drug-related podcasts it has had to remove. She asked whether the platform received any revenue from the removed podcasts. The lawmaker, who serves on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, gave Spotify until June 12 to respond to her inquiries. "We are constantly working to detect and remove violating content across our service," a Spotify spokesperson said in response to BI's investigation. Read the full letter here: Read the original article on Business Insider
