Updates
Marijuana Use Among America’s Senior Citizens Rises as Interest in the Drug Is ‘Reignited’ Today
America's senior citizens are apparently having a moment to remember. People over the age of 65 are eclipsing their children and grandchildren as the fastest growing demographic who are experimenting with cannabis for the first time, according to the National Survey...
New Opioids Are Joining the Illicit Drug Supply, and They’re More Potent Than Fentanyl
In recent years, the opioid epidemic has been worsened by the advent of street fentanyl, an illicit version of a powerful prescription painkiller. But experts now warn that the threat posed by fentanyl may ultimately pale in comparison to the emergence of an even more...
Overdose Reversal Drug Narcan Now Available to Buy Over the Counter
Narcan, the nasal spray that reverses opioid overdoses, is hitting store shelves this month for the first time as an over-the-counter medication. Manufacturer Emergent BioSolutions says it has shipped hundreds of thousands of the two-spray kits, at a suggested retail...
UPDATED NC STATEWIDE OVERDOSE SURVEILLANCE REPORTS – JULY 2023
The Injury and Violence Prevention Branch of the Division of Public Health (IVPB) recently posted an update of suspected overdose deaths, provisional data on ED visits for overdose, and fentanyl-positive deaths reports. Suspected Overdose Deaths There were 335...
White House Announces New Plan to Address Growing Threat of Xylazine in Overdose Crisis
The White House recently unveiled a new plan to address the growing presence of xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer, in the country’s illicit drug supply. In recent years, xylazine, which is commonly known as “tranq,” has helped to accelerate the already-deadly U.S....
New CDC Report: Illicitly Manufactured Fentanyl-Involved Overdose Deaths with Detected Xylazine – U.S., January 2019-June 2022
The report highlights the emerging threat of the presence of xylazine, a nonopioid sedative not approved for human use, in illicitly-made fentanyl (IMF) products. Using data from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) State Unintentional Drug Overdose...
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