Latest news with #syntheticopioids
CNN
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNN
Danger of synthetic opioids, rise of stablecoins, big day for gamers: Catch up on the day's stories
👋 Welcome to 5 Things PM! It's a big day for gamers. Some Nintendo fans camped out overnight to get dibs on the new Switch 2 console, which arrived on store shelves. It marks the gaming giant's first major launch since the original Switch came out in 2017. Here's what else you might have missed during your busy day: 1️⃣ Synthetic opioids: Overdoses and drug poisonings are now the third-leading cause of death in people younger than 20 in the US, behind firearms and motor vehicle crashes. An emergency room doctor explains why opioids are so dangerous. 2️⃣ 'Absolute sh*tshow': NASA scientists are in limbo after the Trump administration proposed eliminating the Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Closing the lab could jeopardize the country's leadership role in global climate science. 3️⃣ Travel ban: President Donald Trump announced a sweeping crackdown that prevents citizens from a dozen nations from entering the US — and seven more face partial restrictions. Here's what we know about the countries on the list. 4️⃣ All about stablecoins: They're a type of crypto asset that is tied to the value of another currency, such as the US dollar or gold. The coins have grown in popularity in recent years for use in digital payments, and now Congress is debating how to regulate them. 5️⃣ Worms galore: For the first time, scientists were able to capture images of nematodes that stack themselves into a wriggling, vertical tower. Watch the tiny architects in action. GET '5 THINGS' IN YOUR INBOX CNN's 5 Things newsletter is your one-stop shop for the latest headlines and fascinating stories to start and end your busy day. Sign up here. 👃 The nose knows: Nasal strips can help prevent snoring and improve sleep — and they may even enhance athletic performance. Tennis star Carlos Alcaraz is a big fan of wearing them during matches to aid in his recovery between points, but do they actually work that way? An expert weighs in on the benefits. • Feud between Trump and Musk explodes into public view• Judge says Sean 'Diddy' Combs could be excluded from courtroom for nodding at jury• Supreme Court sides with straight woman in decision that makes it easier to win 'reverse discrimination' suits That's how many men in Australia reported using violence with an intimate partner in a study that shows gender-based abuse is rising. 🔍 'Borrowed': Greenpeace activists took a wax statue of French President Emmanuel Macron from the Grévin Museum and placed it outside the Russian embassy in Paris to protest continued business ties between the two countries. Although McCarthyism was bad, it wasn't anywhere as pervasive as it is right now — that kind of fear you see stretching through law firms and universities. George Clooney 💬 Politics of fear: The actor sat down with CNN's Anderson Cooper on the set of his Broadway play 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' which focuses on Edward R. Murrow's famous battle with Sen. Joseph McCarthy. 🪡 Michaels is expanding its fabric selection following the collapse of which competitor?A. JoannB. A.C. MooreC. Hobby LobbyD. Factory Direct Craft⬇️ Scroll down for the answer. ⚽ A goal-orious mistake: The manager of Finland's women's national soccer team accidentally called up a 51-year-old with the same surname as a 23-year-old she meant to select. Stina Ruuskanen, who last played for the Finnish national team 29 years ago, took it all in good spirits. 'I'm definitely ready if the call comes!' she joked. 👋 We'll see you tomorrow.🧠 Quiz answer: A. Michaels is jumping into the void left by the collapse of Joann. Test your knowledge with CNN's weekly news quiz in tomorrow's 5 Things newsletter.📧 Check out all of CNN's newsletters. 5 Things PM is produced by CNN's Chris Good, Meghan Pryce, Kimberly Richardson and Morgan Severson.
CNN
3 days ago
- General
- CNN
Youth overdoses from synthetic opioids like fentanyl continue to rise. What should parents do?
Prescription drugs Drugs in society ParentingFacebookTweetLink Follow EDITOR'S NOTE: If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, help is available. Dial or text 988 or visit for free and confidential support. The United States is facing an alarming increase in overdose deaths among young people due to synthetic opioids. The rate of drug overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids, which include fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, increased more than 20-fold between 2013 and 2022, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overdoses and drug poisonings are now the third leading cause of death in people under age 20, behind firearms and motor vehicle crashes. The overdose death counts among US youth ages 15 to 24 rose from 4,652 to 6,723 between 2018 and 2022, according to a new study in the journal Pediatrics. (A slight decrease occurred between 2021 and 2022.) The largest increase was seen in deaths involving only synthetic opioids: Since 2020, fatal overdoses involving only these substances were higher than overdoses in which multiple substances were implicated. Overdose rates were nearly 2.5 times higher among male youths compared with female youths and more than two times higher among those ages 20 to 24 compared with those ages 15 to 19. As a parent, I wanted to know more about synthetic opioids and their uses. Why are they so dangerous, and how are overdoses treated? How can people tell if the drugs they are taking contain synthetic opioids? Crucially, what can parents and other family members do to help reduce the risk of overdose? To help us answer these questions, I spoke with CNN wellness expert Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and adjunct associate professor at the George Washington University. Previously, she served as Baltimore's health commissioner, where she oversaw the city's opioid prevention strategy. CNN: What are synthetic opioids? What are they used for? Dr. Leana Wen: Prescription opioids are medications used to treat severe pain. They must be used with caution, however, because if they are used in higher than prescribed doses or otherwise incorrectly, they can result in drowsiness, slowed and shallow breathing, and even death. Opioids can be classified by where they originate. So-called natural opioids are derived from the poppy plant and include drugs such as morphine and codeine. Semisynthetic opioids include oxycodone and hydrocodone. Synthetic opioids are made in the laboratory. The synthetic opioid most implicated in fatal overdoses is fentanyl, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. There are other synthetic opioids too, such as tramadol and methadone. Methadone is also used as a treatment for people with opioid use disorder. Notably, the CDC's statistics and the new study in Pediatrics do not include methadone in their calculation of fatal overdoses due to synthetic opioids. The majority of synthetic overdose deaths in the US involve fentanyl or fentanyl derivatives. CNN: Are there legitimate medical uses of fentanyl? Wen: Yes. Fentanyl is often used in emergency settings to treat acute pain. For instance, someone who was in a high-speed car accident and just broke their hip needs immediate pain relief. It is also given to patients who have chronic pain that is not relieved by other methods. Some cancer patients with intractable pain use a fentanyl patch or fentanyl lozenge, for example. The current trend of youth overdoses is probably not mostly due to fentanyl being diverted from legitimate medical purposes. In recent years, there has been a significant problem with fentanyl being made in illegal labs. Synthetic fentanyl is sold illegally as a powder dropped onto blotter paper, put in eyedroppers and nasal sprays or, perhaps most terrifyingly, as pills that resemble other prescription pills, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In addition, fentanyl is often mixed in with other drugs. People who think they are taking amphetamines, oxycodone, cocaine, heroin, MDMA (also known as ecstasy) or other 'party drugs' may be unknowingly taking fentanyl. Depending on the amount of fentanyl they are ingesting, they could overdose and die. CNN: What makes fentanyl especially dangerous? Wen: To begin, fentanyl is an extremely potent opioid. It is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. A small amount can lead to oversedation and death. People may not realize how dangerous fentanyl is or even that what they are taking has fentanyl in it. There have been numerous cases of high school and college-age students who have died after being given fentanyl-laced pills. CNN: How are overdoses treated? Wen: The treatment for opioid overdose is the medication naloxone, also sometimes referred to by its brand name Narcan. It is available as a nasal spray and as an intramuscular injection. The nasal spray is available over the counter for under $50. Some health insurance plans will cover naloxone, and some state and local health departments may give out this medication free of charge. If given immediately after someone loses consciousness, it could reverse the overdose and save someone's life. Individuals who come to after getting naloxone should still receive immediate medical care. They may need additional doses of naloxone, and they could need treatment for other potentially dangerous substances they have taken. CNN: How can people tell if the drugs they are taking contain synthetic opioids? Wen: This is an important question — the answer is that people can't easily tell if the drug they are taking contains fentanyl. Counterfeit medications can look exactly like the prescription form. If fentanyl is mixed in with cocaine or other illicit drugs, it's not possible to tell based on simply looking at the substance, as fentanyl is odorless and colorless. Fentanyl test strips can check for the presence of fentanyl in the drug supply. While the use of these strips can reduce overdose risk, know that just because one pill in the supply doesn't contain fentanyl doesn't mean that others all don't. Moreover, these strips don't test for other contaminants that can also be deadly. I want to share another key number: Of the fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills analyzed in 2022 by the US Drug Enforcement Administration Laboratory, 6 out of 10 contained a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl. This is a sobering statistic and should be reason enough for people never to use illicit prescription pills or other illegal substances. CNN: What can parents and other family members do to help reduce the risk of overdose? Wen: Parents should speak with their children about the danger of counterfeit and illicit drugs. It doesn't matter if parents used drugs when they were younger. Drugs today are so much more powerful and dangerous. People should never take medications that don't belong to them. They don't know where the medications came from, if the medications are really what they claim to be, and whether they have contaminants such as fentanyl in which even a small amount could be fatal. I think it's also good practice to have naloxone accessible. As I mentioned, this medication is now available over the counter. Everyone can learn to use it and have it in their medicine cabinet.
The Independent
5 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Opioid ‘hundred times stronger than heroin' linked to UK clubbing deaths for first time
Two people in their twenties have died in London after allegedly consuming a super-strong opioid drug, the first that experts have linked in the UK to the new substance. Warned that they can be hundreds of times stronger than heroin, nitazenes are a newer form of synthetic opioid and can be mis-sold as drugs including oxycodone, which is a highly addictive prescription drug used to treat pain. A 20-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man are understood to have taken the drug after visiting a club in south London over the May bank holiday weekend. The blue tablets, which are marked with the number 80, could potentially be mistaken for 'oxys', which can help users fall asleep. In a statement on their social media page, the nightclub Ministry of Sound in Elephant and Castle said: 'We have been informed of a dangerous batch of blue-green pills marked with '80' are being sold across London. 'These pills have been linked to hospitalisations and tragically two confirmed fatalities. 'Reports indicate they contain synthetic opioids, along with traces of ketamine and MDMA. They are being mis-sold as Ecstasy or Oxycodone, and investigations are ongoing.' They encouraged anyone who was feeling unwell while at the venue to seek medical help immediately from their on-site team. The Cause, in east London, and Fabric, in Farringdon, also posted similar messages warning people of the risks of consuming the drug. It has prompted fears ahead of festival season, with increased calls for front-of-house drug testing. Speaking to The Times, Professor Fiona Measham, the founder of drug checking charity The Loop, said: 'Up to now, there have been about two nitazene-related deaths per week in the UK, predominantly linked to contamination of opiate and street benzodiazepine markets,. 'This appears to be a leap from dependent to recreational drug using communities with the deaths of two clubbers but we don't yet know the purchase intent. If we did, we could target the appropriate groups looking to buy, for example, oxycodone or ecstasy pills.' The Home Office said: 'Every death from drugs is a tragedy and our thoughts are with the family and friends of the two individuals who have sadly lost their lives. 'We are determined to take steps to prevent drug-related deaths and we support the testing of drugs seized by the police or deposited in amnesty bins, but we cannot endorse testing for recreational users because there is no safe way to take illegal drugs. 'We are doing everything we can to tackle the evolving threat from synthetic opioids such as nitazenes, including working closely with the police to increase the number of officers carrying the opioid overdose antidote naloxone.' The Metropolitan Police said: 'We are currently investigating the death of two people at a residential address in Havelock Road, Southall. 'Met officers were called on Monday, 26 May at 16:00hrs following reports that a 20-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man had been found unresponsive. 'Paramedics from the London Ambulance Service attended the scene where both people were sadly pronounced dead. The deaths are being treated as unexpected and an investigation remains ongoing. 'Post-mortem examinations have been carried out and we await the results of toxicology findings. 'Next of kin for both the man and the woman have been informed, they are currently being supported by specialist officers.'
BBC News
6 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Warning issued over two suspected Southall opioid deaths
Warnings have been issued by a west London council and nightclubs after two people died in suspected drug overdoses from highly potent synthetic opioids. An investigation is under way into the "sudden deaths" of a 28-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman in Southall on 26 May, the Metropolitan Police said."This is following reports that the individuals allegedly passed away after taking an illicit substance in the form of a green pill," a spokesperson for the force added. Drug testing charity The Loop has said the pills contain synthetic opioids called Nitazenes, which can be "50 to 500 times stronger than heroin". Ealing Council said the two people who died are understood to have taken green pills with the number 80 on one face and possibly an "OP" on the police said no arrests have been made in connection with the deaths. If you have been affected by issues raised in this story, help and support is available via BBC Action Line. East London nightclub The Cause posted about the pills on their Instagram account, stating there had been "several hospitalisations across multiple London venues".BBC News has contacted the London Ambulance Service (LAS) to verify this. The Loop said the pills are believed to have been sold as oxycodone. According to the NHS this is a prescription painkiller used to treat severe pain. What are nitazenes? Nitazenes are a type of high strength synthetic opioid - drugs which have a similar effect to heroin, but made in laboratories rather than from poppy developed by the pharmaceutical industry in the 1950s as a painkiller, clinical trials were abandoned amid concerns about their harmful compounds are dangerous because they can be 50 to 100 times stronger than heroin, so drug users have no idea of the potency of what they are drugs suppress the respiratory system, so people can die as they stop breathing but the symptoms of an overdose can be reversed by taking an antidote called naloxone. The most recent government data found there were 18 deaths linked to nitazenes in London from May 2023 to June 2024. The figure was 179 across Department for Health and Social Care stated the data "does not provide a comprehensive count of all deaths that may have involved potent synthetic opioids". An Ealing Council spokesperson urged people to avoid taking the green pills "even in small amounts".Anyone considering taking any other illicit pills should not do so alone, the council said, and should consider carrying naloxone - an opioid overdose anyone feels unwell after taking a substance, they are advised to seek emergency medical attention, the spokesperson Loop has also advised where such services are available to test drugs before they are taken.
Gizmodo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Gizmodo
Trump Paused Some China Tariffs, but Stuff From Shein and Temu Will Remain Expensive
On Monday, the United States and China made a joint statement announcing a new stage in the trade war that temporarily pauses the tariffs the two nations imposed on each other earlier this year. For the next 90 days, China will ease duties on US imports from 125% to 10%. Over the same timeframe, the US will decrease tariffs on Chinese imports from 145% to 30%. Excluded from this deal, however, are Chinese shipments worth less than $800, which will be taxed at a rate of 120%, or a flat rate of $100 per postal item. Starting on June 1st, that $100 fee will double to $200. The joint statement came after officials from both countries met in Geneva over the weekend. Markets, which have experienced heightened volatility since President Trump's 'Liberation Day,' surged on Monday morning as the news broke. Last month, President Trump announced a wide range of new tariffs on global imports, including an 84% duty on Chinese imports, which subsequently rose to 145%. He also closed the 'de minimis' loophole, which previously exempted shipments from China valued at less than $800. President Trump claimed that he was closing the loophole to help combat the US's synthetic opioid crisis. In a fact sheet issued by the White House, the Trump admin claimed that 'many' Chinese-based shippers took advantage of the de minimis exemption to 'hide illicit substances, including synthetic opioids, in low-value packages.' Despite the Trump administration's emphasis on synthetic opioids, much of the public conversation around the ending of this exemption has been about cheap sneakers, memory foam pillows, and drones sold by Chinese e-commerce giants like Shein and Temu. Both companies benefited greatly from the de minimis exemption and said that they planned to raise prices in light of the change. In separate but identical statements, Shein and Temu said that, 'Due to recent changes in global trade rules and tariffs, our operating expenses have gone up. To keep offering the products you love without compromising on quality, we will be making price adjustments starting April 25, 2025.' In early May, however, Temu seemed to change course. Fashion Dive reported that Temu would address tariffs by transitioning to a local distribution model, hiring suppliers in the US. While that strategy helps the company circumvent Trump's tariffs, it puts Temu in direct competition with Amazon and Walmart in the US. Last year, Amazon seemed to take notice of Temu and Shein's growing popularity in the US by launching Amazon Haul, its own discount platform. Late last month, President Donald Trump called Amazon's Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos over a report that Amazon Haul would display import charges on its site. While the idea was discussed internally, Amazon said in a statement to NBC News that 'it was never approved and not going to happen.' In March, American retailer Forever21, a fast fashion stalwart, filed for bankruptcy for a second time. In a court filing, Forever21 said it was 'materially and negatively impacted' by Shein and Temu's use of the de minimis exception, and blamed them for 'undercutting' Forever21's business. While it remains to be seen who the winners and losers will be in Trump's remade trade landscape, it's hard not to hold out hope that American consumers might consider reevaluating their endless appetite for more and cheaper stuff.
