Tag: fentanyl

Texas Lawmakers File Bills Aiming to Legalize Fentanyl Testing Strips

Several Texas lawmakers have filed bills they hope will make possessing fentanyl test strips legal. Currently, the test strips are classified as drug paraphernalia under the Texas Controlled Substances Act. “Currently, 19 states in our country allow these test strips to be used to keep their citizens safe. But Texas is not one of them,”…


Officials Warn of Major Spike in Fentanyl Poisoning Deaths in LA County

LOS ANGELES—While the COVID-19 pandemic causing bars, clubs, and other late-night meeting places to close, online sales of counterfeit pills containing the synthetic opioid fentanyl exploded, killing more than 1,600 people in Los Angeles County last year, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official said Nov. 21. Fentanyl poisoning is killing the region’s residents, particularly young…


Alabama Attorney General Reaches $44 Million Settlement With Walmart to Fund Opioid Abatement

The Alabama Attorney General has reached a $44 million settlement agreement with Walmart to fund opioid abatement in the state. “Many of Alabama’s cities and counties have been pummeled by an epidemic that began with prescription opioids and has intensified to illicit opioids like heroin and fentanyl,” Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a press…


Florida’s Fentanyl Crisis: The ‘Revolving Door of Overdose’

Florida’s fentanyl crisis is a “revolving door of overdose,” a top health official says. According to Centers for Disease Control data, there were 7,738 reported overdose deaths in Florida between May 2020 to May 2021. From May 2021 to May 2022, that number rose to 7,942. According to Dr. Kenneth Scheppke, Deputy Secretary for Health…


Death of Alabama Student at School Likely Linked to Fentanyl

SELMA, Ala.—One student who died at an Alabama high school and four others who were taken to a hospital probably were sickened by something that had been laced with fentanyl, a prosecutor said Wednesday. Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson said investigators were awaiting results from an autopsy and toxicology tests before making a final…


The War on the US Southern Border

Commentary An estimated 100,306 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2021. That’s a 28.5 percent increase from 78,056 in 2020. Nearly 80,000 of those deaths were from opioids—up from 56,000—which is largely the result of fentanyl pouring over our wide-open southern border. At the same time, crime is skyrocketing, inflation is rampant, and…


Enough Fentanyl to Kill 190,000 People Seized in Ohio Joint Law Enforcement Operation

Law enforcement officials in Ohio seized 570 grams of fentanyl, 660 grams of meth, and 139 grams of crack cocaine while conducting search warrants of two apartments in Butler county on Nov. 1. Undercover officers with the Butler County Undercover Regional Narcotics (BURN) Task Force and the Hamilton Police Department executed the search at the apartments at…


Spotlighting America’s Fentanyl Crisis on Red Ribbon Week

News Analysis Thirty-seven Octobers ago, Mexican drug cartels kidnapped, tortured, and murdered Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. People began wearing red ribbons to honor Camarena’s sacrifice, and Red Ribbon Week was born, observed annually in late October. Symbols can make us mindful and across the Midwest, 15 landmarks will light red…


Mother Helps Pass Bill Requiring California Emergency Rooms to Include Fentanyl Testing

Juli Shamash experienced a life-altering tragedy in 2018 when her son died ingesting a pill laced with fentanyl, a highly lethal synthetic opioid most people were unfamiliar with. Now Shamash has successfully advocated for a bill that mandates fentanyl tests to be included in drug screening in emergency rooms. Authored by Sen. Melissa Melendez (R–Lake…


Florida Law Enforcement Officers Seize Enough Fentanyl to Kill State’s Entire Population

In the past few months, Florida law enforcement officers have seized enough fentanyl to kill the state’s entire 22 million population. Attorney General Ashley Moody announced massive seizures of illicit fentanyl pouring into Florida after being smuggled across the southern border as her office continues to fight the Biden administration in court over its immigration…