heroin

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She Lived 20 Years. Now Her Friend Will Go to Jail for 21

Emma Semler left Jennifer Werstler to die of heroin overdose

(Newser) - Tears flowing down her cheeks, Emma Semler turned to the family of a deceased friend and mouthed the words, "I'm sorry." The mother of Jennifer Werstler—who died of a heroin overdose on the floor of a KFC bathroom on her 20th birthday in 2014—wasn't...

Opioid Crisis Sees Ray of Hope
Opioid Crisis Sees Ray of Hope

Opioid Crisis Sees Ray of Hope

Use of prescription opioids actually fell in 2018

(Newser) - For those grieving the opioid crisis, a sliver of hope: America's use of prescription opioids fell more than ever last year amid a government crackdown on drugmakers and pharmacists, CNBC reports. Overall use dropped 17% in 2018, the biggest decline on record, according to the health research firm IQVIA...

DEA Busts a Staggering Amount of Fentanyl

Enough to kill 2M people found in house in Westchester, NY

(Newser) - "The fentanyl alone has the potency to kill nearly over 2 million people." This from Ray Donovan, special agent with the New York division of the DEA, about a drug bust on Friday morning in suburban Westchester County that yielded five kilos of fentanyl and six kilos of...

Bad Time to Overdose: While Driving School Bus Full of Kids

Lisa Byrd facing child endangerment charges after she's revived with Narcan: cops

(Newser) - A school bus carrying a dozen special-needs children crashed into a tree in Newark on Wednesday, but police say that wasn't the worst part. Though no kids were injured, the driver of the bus, found slumped over the wheel, had overdosed on heroin and had to be revived with...

Record-Breaking Drug OD Deaths in US Last Year

200 people died per day in US in 2017, per the DEA

(Newser) - Drug overdose deaths hit the highest level ever recorded in the US last year, with an estimated 200 people dying per day, according to a report by the DEA. Most of that was the result of a record number of opioid-related deaths. Preliminary figures show more than 72,000 people...

In a Burger King Bathroom, a Newborn Defies Odds

Infant born in toilet expected to be OK as mother heads to rehab

(Newser) - A 26-year-old Ohio woman is heading to drug rehab in the hope of securing custody of her week-old son, born in the toilet of a Burger King bathroom stall. Authorities responding to a report of a man passed out behind the wheel of a running car say they found Zachary...

Demi Lovato Overdoses on Heroin: TMZ
TMZ: Demi Lovato Overdoses
UPDATED

TMZ: Demi Lovato Overdoses

Sources say she was treated with Narcan, rushed to hospital

(Newser) - Demi Lovato was rushed to the hospital after apparently overdosing on heroin Tuesday morning, law enforcement sources tell TMZ . The sources say Lovato was treated with Narcan, an emergency treatment for narcotic overdoses, at her Hollywood Hills home before being transported to a Los Angeles hospital. The Los Angeles Fire...

The Knock at 3am to Report a Death Wasn't the Family's Last

The 'Tennessean' looks at the toll the opioid crisis has had on the Baltzes

(Newser) - Just before Christmas 2015, former 3 Doors Down bassist Robert "Todd" Harrell was sentenced to two years in prison after being convicted in a fatal 2013 crash that occurred on Nashville's I-40. He was driving at 101mph when he clipped a pickup being driven by Paul Shoulders Jr....

Your Fingerprint Might Have Cocaine in It
Your Fingerprint Might Have
Cocaine in It
study says

Your Fingerprint Might Have Cocaine in It

Even if you don't do drugs

(Newser) - Even if you don't do drugs, there's a surprisingly decent chance your fingerprints have traces of cocaine and even heroin. Researchers from the University of Surrey in Britain found that slightly more than 1 in 10 drug-free study participants had cocaine in their prints and 1% had heroin,...

Father and Son Overdose at Brooklyn Birthday Party

A mix of heroin and fentanyl brings tragedy to a family gathering

(Newser) - Tragedy struck a Brooklyn family over the weekend when a father and son died of drug overdoses at a birthday party. Police say Joseph Andrade, 44, and his son Carlos, 22, told family members they were stepping outside for a cigarette when in actuality they were going to snort a...

Guy Admits Smuggling Chocolate-Covered Heroin

21-year-old was busted in NJ in June with 3 kilos of drug/candy

(Newser) - A man has admitted smuggling chocolate-covered heroin on a flight from Guatemala to Newark Liberty International Airport, reports the AP . Jacobo Orellana-Estrada on Thursday pleaded guilty in federal court to possession with intent to distribute heroin. Prosecutors say the Guatemalan citizen arrived in Newark on a flight in June and...

Mom Now Grateful for Viral Heroin Overdose Photo

Erika Hurt celebrated a year of sobriety last Sunday

(Newser) - When police found 25-year-old Erika Hurt passed out in her car in the parking lot of an Indiana Dollar General Store, needle in her hand, with her 10-month-old son in the backseat, they snapped a photo that went viral as the face of the opioid crisis in America. One year...

Mother Clings to Dying Daughter After Overdose
Mother Clings to Dying
Daughter After Overdose
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Mother Clings to Dying Daughter After Overdose

'She was my only daughter, my best friend'

(Newser) - Seven years of addiction, five overdoses, several detoxes, and giving up her son to adoptive parents didn't prove to be enough to help 22-year-old Elaina Towery kick her heroin habit, reports the New York Daily News . Towery, of Howell, Mich., was found slumped over in a Burger King bathroom...

The Opioid Crisis May Be 24% Worse Than We Thought
Researcher Says Our Opioid
Death Stats Are Way Off
new study

Researcher Says Our Opioid Death Stats Are Way Off

There may be 24% more deaths than we think

(Newser) - The CDC statistic is a harsh one: Ninety-one Americans die from opioid overdoses—that number includes heroin and prescription opioids—every day. A University of Virginia researcher claims we're undercounting. A new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine estimates that opioid- and heroin-related mortality rates were...

She Overdosed While Pregnant, Now Faces Assault Charge

Doctors had to deliver baby prematurely

(Newser) - In a case that police say lays bare the disturbing extent of the opioid crisis, a woman in Pennsylvania faces charges of assaulting her baby by overdosing on heroin while seven months pregnant. The baby was delivered by emergency C-section Saturday after 30-year-old Kasey Dischman was found unresponsive in the...

Accused of Stealing Victim's Ring, He Was Once a Hero

George Tschaggeny, arrested in Portland, had been honored as Good Samaritan

(Newser) - Another cautionary tale in the midst of America's battle against opioids : that of George Elwood Tschaggeny. The military veteran helped tackle a bank robber armed with a knife in 2010 and was awarded a civilian medal, and it wasn't Tschaggeny's first turn as a Good Samaritan. More...

2 Counselors Fatally OD at Facility for Recovering Addicts

They were found in their bedrooms at Pa. lodge

(Newser) - "If anybody is wondering how bad the opioid epidemic has become, this case is a frightening example," said Chester County DA Tom Hogan after two drug counselors fatally overdosed at a Pennsylvania facility for recovering addicts. Residents at the Freedom Ridge Recovery Lodge found the counselors, who lived...

Smart Thinking Saves Pet Rat After Heroin Overdose

Snuggles recovering after her overdose

(Newser) - The heroin epidemic has made its way to Vancouver, British Columbia, and even the rats are being felled. In the case of Snuggles, a pet rat rushed into the Overdose Prevention Society on Sunday, volunteers were actually able to save her life after a quick-thinking pharmacy student administered naloxone (aka...

Another Effect of Heroin Crisis: More Hepatitis C Infections

There were 2.4K new infection in 2015; that's probably fraction of actual number

(Newser) - The heroin epidemic is driving up hepatitis C infections, with the biggest increase in people ages 20 to 29, US health officials said Thursday. The number of new infections nearly tripled in five years, to about 2,400 in 2015, the AP reports. The virus is spread by sharing needles...

11-Year-Old Girl Revived From Heroin Overdose

Police found multiple bags of the drug in her room

(Newser) - Paramedics were able to revive an 11-year-old girl after she was found overdosing on heroin in her Beechview, Penn., home on Wednesday. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , the sixth grader was unresponsive but still breathing when paramedics arrived and administered Narcan, an opioid-blocking drug. The girl was then sedated after...

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