National News

Despite progress, drug overdose remains a leading cause of injury-related death in the United States. Overdoses involving prescription and illicit opioids take the lives of 136 people every day. Recently, dramatic increases in opioid misuse and overdose death have been observed among people from some racial and ethnic minority groups,…

Diego considers himself fortunate. The 49-year-old man, who is only being identified by his first name for privacy reasons, thinks back on some dark moments in his life —all associated with drugs. He said his brothers introduced him to narcotics when he was 12 and living in his hometown of…

A new Iris House campaign promotes HIV, hep C and STI testing and emphasizes the importance of mental health among young people. What makes you glow? For a group of young social media influencers in a new awareness campaign titled “Simply Glow’d,” the answer is getting tested for HIV, hepatitis…

Social-distancing measures and lockdowns have disproportionately increased alcohol use in the LGBTQ community, studies find. Abigail Mazzarella, 26, often went to gay bars in Baltimore before Covid-19 stay-at-home measures were introduced. “I don’t live anywhere near my family, so I did depend on that community and friendships to get by…

“Fentanyl is also being pressed into pills that resemble prescription opioids or benzodiazepines,” health officials said. “While fentanyl has been in Philadelphia’s heroin supply for several years, its presence in non-opioid drugs and counterfeit pills is especially concerning as individuals who prefer these drugs may have had little exposure to…

The U.S. is seeing its worst COVID-19 surge of the year. Yet as the number of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths all rise, the country continues to deal with a concurrent epidemic affecting Americans: A drug overdose epidemic driven by illicit fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine. AMA Immediate Past President Patrice A.…

By Allyson Chiu November 23, 2020 at 8:00 a.m. EST In the roughly eight years since she left treatment for alcohol-use disorder, Amy Durham has been to countless recovery group meetings. At first, she went every day, before gradually scaling back to two or three times a week — a…

Drug deaths in America, which fell for the first time in 25 years in 2018, rose to record numbers in 2019 and are continuing to climb, a resurgence that is being complicated and perhaps worsened by the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly 72,000 Americans died from drug overdoses last year, according to preliminary data…

ADA, Okla. — Zach Williams checked himself into a hotel room, sat down on the edge of the bed and waited. Chills soon racked his body, and he started to shiver. He couldn’t keep food down. He was drenched in sweat. For two days in 2018, the 37-year-old Native American…