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Despite stereotypical images of addicts injecting heroin and then dying, new government research finds that smoking drugs such as fentanyl is now the leading cause of fatal overdoses.

In the new research, published Thursday in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, scientists from the U.S. Centers ...

Doctors report they are seeing what they think is a new syndrome in babies who are exposed to fentanyl while in the womb.

All of the infants have cleft palates and unusually small heads, and all were born to mothers who said they'd used fentanyl and other drugs while pregnant.

Six babies were first` identified at Nemours Children's Health in Wilmington, Del., two in California and o...

TUESDAY, NOV. 14, 2023 (Healthday News) -- Over 1 in 6 Americans, adults and teens alike, suffered a substance use disorder in 2022, new government data released Monday shows.

In the survey, alcohol and drug abuse involved roughly the same numbers of people: About 30 million had an al...

Americans who haven't been to college appear to be a risk group for drug overdose deaths.

Deaths due to overdose increased among less-educated Americans, with the rate nearly doubling in a three-year period for those without a high school diploma, according to a new study by the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization.

While it's not new that less-educated Americans repr...

The "fourth wave" of the U.S. overdose crisis involves the use of illicit fentanyl mixed with stimulants such as cocaine or methamphetamine, and it's killing people in droves.

The proportion of U.S. overdose deaths involving both fentanyl and stimulants jumped by more than 50-fold since 2010, from 0.6% in 2010 to more than 32% in 2021, a new study shows.

"Fatal overdose involvi...

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 dangerous type of synthetic opioid that's now tainting the illegal drug supply: nitazenes.

That's because a new inve...

Narcan, a lifesaving medication that reverses opioid overdose, will be available on U.S. drugstore shelves and online starting next week.

People who want to carry Narcan, the nasal spray version of naloxone, will be able to find it at Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart and CVS for a suggested retail price of $44.99 for a box of two doses, the drug maker reported Wednesday.

T...

Following a four-day raid, Mexico has closed 23 pharmacies in Caribbean resorts of Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum for irregular pill sales.

Last spring, the United States warned of dangerous pill sales to foreigners and tourists where counterfeit drugs contained fentanyl, her...

A fentanyl dealer has been found guilty of second-degree murder in what authorities believe is the first-ever murder conviction for dealing the dangerous drug.

The conviction happened in Placer County, Calif., in a case involving the fatal overdose last summer of a 15-year-old girl in Roseville, about 20 miles northeast of Sacramento, ABC News reported.

"This conviction cou...

American men die of drug overdoses at a higher rate than women, but new research shows that difference can't be completely explained by factors like misuse or greater use.

A study led by scientists from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City and the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found that men were two to three times more likely than women to die of a ...

The medication buprenorphine normalizes brain function in people addicted to opioids, but teens rarely receive it at U.S. treatment centers, a new study finds.

Only one in four adolescent residential treatment centers in the United States uses the medication to treat opioid use disorder, according to research out of Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).

"These residential treat...

Many Americans who inject illicit drugs are unknowingly getting fentanyl mixed in with their heroin, which can increase their risk for overdose and perhaps their tolerance for the drug.

About 80% of injection drug users in New York City test positive for fentanyl, but only 18% intended to use that drug, according to research from NYU School of Global Public Hea...

When people receive methadone treatment for opioid use disorder, their use of the dangerous drugs heroin and fentanyl significantly declines, a new study shows.

But decreases in cocaine or methamphetamine use were not seen in a year of treatment, researchers report.

"Methadone treatment can have tremendous success reducing fentanyl and heroin use in individuals, but this study show...

The synthetic opioid fentanyl is killing increasing numbers of U.S. kids, emulating the chilling trends seen among adults, a new study finds.

Pediatric deaths from fentanyl increased more than 30-fold between 2013 and 2021, according to study author Julie Gaither, an assistant professor of pediatrics at th...

U.S. officials are intensifying efforts to crack down on illicit use of the veterinary tranquilizer xylazine, which can cause painful and deadly side effects in humans.

The drug, when mixed with the opioid fentanyl, has been designated an "emerging threat,"the Office of National Drug Control Policy announced Wednesday.

"As a physician, I am deeply troubled about the devastating imp...

Traveling in Mexico? Use caution when buying medications there, cautions the U.S. State Department.

The warning was issued in response to concerns about counterfeit pills containing fentanyl being sold at pharmacies in tourist areas and border regions.

"Counterfeit pills a...

Opioids pose the greatest poison risk to children in the United States, accounting for more than half of poisoning deaths in infants and toddlers, a new study reports.

About 52% of poisoning deaths of children aged 5 and younger in 2018 involved the ingestion of an opioid, according to findings published online March 8 in the journal