Latest Opioids News
Former northern Virginia jail deputy gets 6 1/2 years for drug operation, sex trafficking
A former sheriff's deputy at a northern Virginia jail was sentenced Wednesday to 6 1/2 years in prison for smuggling drugs into the jail and for running a sex trafficking operation out of a Baltimore apartment. Robert T. Sanford Jr., 37, worked night shifts at the Fairfax County...
Man who sold fentanyl-laced pill liable for $5.8 million in death of young female customer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — In 2019, Brandon McDowell was contacted by a sophomore in college who asked to buy Percocet, a prescription painkiller. What the 20-year-old sold her instead were counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid that can be lethal in a dose as...
DEA closing 2 offices in China even as the agency struggles to stem flow of fentanyl chemicals
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is shutting down two of its hard-won offices in China, The Associated Press has learned, a move that comes even as the agency struggles to disrupt the flow of precursor chemicals from the country that have fueled a fentanyl epidemic blamed for the deaths of...
How social media became a storefront for deadly fake pills
Coco loved being the life of the party — cracking jokes, doing pranks and making people laugh, her mom, Julianna Arnold, recalled recently. “Her favorite pastime was fashion,” Arnold said. “She didn’t like looking at magazines or going to fancy stores, but preferred to make...
Kentucky attorney general offers prevention plan to combat drug abuse scourge
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman unveiled plans Tuesday to create a statewide drug prevention program, saying the youth-focused initiative would fill a hole in the Bluegrass State's fight against an addiction epidemic that has claimed thousands of lives. Coleman presented...
Women settle lawsuits after Yale fertility nurse switched painkiller for saline
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Dozens of women who say they suffered excruciating pain at a Yale University fertility clinic because a nurse stole fentanyl for her own use and replaced it with saline have settled their lawsuits against the Ivy League school. Patients and their lawyers...
Oregon hospital hit with $303M lawsuit after a nurse is accused of replacing fentanyl with tap water
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — Attorneys representing both living and deceased patients of an Oregon hospital filed a $303 million lawsuit against the facility on Tuesday after a nurse was accused of replacing prescribed fentanyl with nonsterile tap water in intravenous drips. The wrongful...
Oregon law rolling back drug decriminalization set to take effect and make possession a crime again
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s first-in-the-nation experiment with drug decriminalization is coming to an end Sunday, when possessing small amounts of hard drugs will once again become a crime. The Democratic-controlled Legislature passed the recriminalization law in March,...
Mississippi sues drugmakers and pharmacy benefit managers over opioids
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The state of Mississippi is suing drug manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers alleging that opioids were over-prescribed. Attorney General Lynn Fitch, a Republican, filed the suit Thursday in Hinds County Chancery Court in the state capital of Jackson. It...
Utah mother and children's book author Kouri Richins to stand trial in husband's death, judge rules
PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — A Utah mother of three who published a children’s book about grief after her husband’s death and was later accused of fatally poisoning him will stand trial, a judge ruled Tuesday. Utah state Judge Richard Mrazik ruled on the second day of Kouri...
