Latest Opioids News

Police union employee charged with importing illegal opioids

Mar. 30, 2023 18:43 PM EDT

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — The office manager for a Northern California police union allegedly imported illegal synthetic opioids from India and other countries and at least once used her work computer and address and the union's UPS account to ship the drugs within the country, federal prosecutors...

FDA approves over-the-counter Narcan. Here's what it means

Mar. 29, 2023 14:41 PM EDT

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved selling the leading version of naloxone without a prescription, setting the overdose-reversing drug on course to become the first opioid treatment drug to be sold over the counter. It’s a move that some advocates have long...

Idaho governor signs firing squad execution bill into law

Mar. 25, 2023 13:05 PM EDT

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Republican Gov. Brad Little signed a bill allowing execution by firing squad, making Idaho the latest state to turn to older methods of capital punishment amid a nationwide shortage of lethal-injection drugs. The Legislature passed the measure March 20 with a...

Ky governor stops sale of drug known as 'gas station heroin'

Mar. 23, 2023 14:59 PM EDT

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky's governor took emergency action Thursday to halt the sale of a drug commonly known as “gas station heroin” that he warned poses a threat in a state battling addiction and overdose problems. Gov. Andy Beshear said the emergency regulation he...

Feds announce major drug bust, arrests in West Virginia

Mar. 22, 2023 18:06 PM EDT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A federal drug trafficking investigation in West Virginia has resulted in charges against 54 people and the seizure of more than 200 pounds (91 kilograms) of methamphetamine, authorities said Wednesday. U.S. Attorney Will Thompson said law enforcement also...

Doctors may miss how addiction patients cheat drug tests

Mar. 22, 2023 17:06 PM EDT

Doctors often use urine tests to make sure patients taking medication for opioid addiction are sticking with treatment. A new study suggests they may be missing some cheaters. Nearly 8% of these patients sometimes spike their urine by adding their treatment medicine, buprenorphine,...

Crime becomes flash point in Kentucky GOP race for governor

Mar. 21, 2023 18:48 PM EDT

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Dozens of law enforcement officials in Kentucky came to Attorney General Daniel Cameron's aid on Tuesday, pushing back against a new attack aimed at his record on combating crime as the contest for the Republican gubernatorial nomination becomes increasingly testy. ...

Idaho poised to allow firing-squad executions in some cases

Mar. 20, 2023 18:30 PM EDT

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho is poised to allow firing squads to execute condemned inmates when the state can't get lethal-injection drugs, under a bill the Legislature passed Monday with a veto-proof majority. Firing squads will be used only if the state cannot obtain the drugs...

With overdoses up, states look at harsher fentanyl penalties

Mar. 20, 2023 09:13 AM EDT

RENO, Nev. (AP) — State lawmakers nationwide are responding to the deadliest overdose crisis in U.S. history by pushing harsher penalties for possessing fentanyl and other powerful lab-made opioids that are connected to about 70,000 deaths a year. Imposing longer prison sentences...

Mexico president holds massive rally ahead of 2024 elections

Mar. 18, 2023 21:18 PM EDT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador held a massive rally in Mexico City’s main plaza attended by tens of thousands of people Saturday. Though it was called to commemorate Mexico's 1938 expropriation of the oil industry, many of those attending the...