Families of those killed by fentanyl gather at DEA as US undergoes deadliest overdose crisis
About 150 people from families who have lost a loved one to fentanyl poisoning have gathered at the headquarters of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as the U.S. faces its deadliest overdose crisis.
Mexico shutters 23 pharmacies at Caribbean coast resorts after US warned of dangerous pill sales
Mexico has closed 23 pharmacies at Caribbean coast resorts, six months after a research report warned that drug stores in Mexico were offering foreigners pills they passed off as Oxycodone, Percocet, and Adderall.
'Keep them alive': More states legalize fentanyl test strips to combat surging opioid deaths
A growing number of states are decriminalizing fentanyl testing strips, seeking to protect people who use drugs from unwitting exposure to the highly potent synthetic opioid ravaging the U.S. with overdose deaths.
El Chapo's son, Sinaloa members face sanctions over fentanyl
The United States has sanctioned a son of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, three members of the Sinaloa cartel and two Mexican-based firms, alleging they trafficked fentanyl and other drugs into the U.S. Tuesday's sanctions came the day Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was talking with President Joe Biden about immigration and the fentanyl crisis.
More sanctions for deadly fentanyl if bill wins passage
Over the course of a year, the U.S. Treasury Department has used the hammer of its sanctions powers to impose wide-ranging financial restrictions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, turning Russia into the most sanctioned country in the world.
Sterling Heights police find 20,000 fentanyl pills from Mexican drug cartel in hidden car compartments
Sterling Heights police found 20,000 fentanyl pills inside the hidden compartments of a vehicle and arrested a man and a woman who admitted they had entered the country illegally from Mexico to transport the drugs for a cartel, officials said.
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Warren police bust drug ring selling cocaine laced with fentanyl
They believe the three taken into custody are the leaders of a ring selling cocaine laced with fentanyl that has killed three people in Warren. Jermaine Tate, 38, has been charged with conducting criminal enterprise, delivery/manufacturing fentanyl and three counts of conspiracy to deliver/manufacture fentanyl. Nathaniel Clark, 32, as been charged with conducting criminal enterprise, three counts of delivery/manufacturing fentanyl and three counts of conspiracy to deliver/manufacture fentanyl. Terry Jamal Gaskins, 34, has been charged with conducting criminal enterprise, three counts of delivery/manufacturing fentanyl and three counts of conspiracy to deliver/manufacture fentanyl. Authorities said they’ve been distributing cocaine laced with fentanyl, cut down to make a larger profit.
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3 arrested in connection with Warren fentanyl ring, more arrests likely
WARREN, Mich. – An investigation into a large-scale group alleged to be manufacturing and distributing fentanyl across Metro Detroit culminated in the arrests of three people. (Stopping Narcotic Overdoses in Warren) began investigating in November after the death of a 47-year-old resident. Jermaine Tate, 38, has been charged with conducting criminal enterprise, delivery/manufacturing fentanyl and three counts of conspiracy to deliver/manufacture fentanyl. Nathaniel Clark, 32, as been charged with conducting criminal enterprise, three counts of delivery/manufacturing fentanyl and three counts of conspiracy to deliver/manufacture fentanyl. Terry Jamal Gaskins, 34, has been charged with conducting criminal enterprise, three counts of delivery/manufacturing fentanyl and three counts of conspiracy to deliver/manufacture fentanyl.
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‘Purple heroin’ linked to several overdose cases, 1 death in Michigan
DETROIT – The Michigan Poison Center at the Wayne State University School of Medicine is issuing a warning about recent reports involving “purple heroin” in Michigan. The drug has been linked to several overdoses in the Upper Peninsula and one overdose-related death in Van Buren County. Samples of the drug were sent to the Michigan State Police Laboratory for testing. They do not know if “purple heroin” is colored before or after arriving in Michigan. The Michigan Poison Center is available by calling this number 800-222-1222.
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Warren police operation seizes 75 guns, $107,000 in drug money
WARREN, Mich. – Police in Warren responded to a recent uptick in crime with Operation SNAG, which helped get guns, drugs and criminals off the streets. City officials held a press conference Thursday to discuss SNAG, which stands for Saving Neighborhoods Against Guns. It includes a police task force getting deep into areas where there have been shootings and armed robberies. Police said more than two dozen guns seized are at a crime lab being tested. Warren mayor Jim Fouts commended the Warren Police Department for Operation SNAG and said the task force saved lives.
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‘McDonald’s for drugs': Leader of massive Detroit drug operation sentenced to 30 years in prison
DETROIT – The leader of a massive heroin, crack cocaine, and fentanyl operation in Detroit is headed to prison for 30 years. Officials said Demarco Tempo, who goes by Polo, was called “a McDonald’s for drugs” by former customers. Authorities said an investigation into a rash of non-fatal fentanyl overdoses and a fatal overdose in Warren led to an investigation in 2016. According to authorities, Tempo’s organization was selling heroin mixed with fentanyl, and sometimes just fentanyl, to people. Many of them were convicted on numerous charges related to distribution, conspiracy to distribute and other charges related to overdoses.
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3 Detroit residents arrested after meth, fentanyl sold to undercover officials
WOLVERINE, Mich. – Three Detroit residents were arrested earlier this week after methamphetamine and fentanyl were sold to undercover officials. Hariston is charged with conspiracy to deliver methamphetamine and conspiracy to deliver fentanyl. Bennett is charged with conspiracy to deliver methamphetamine, delivery of methamphetamine, conspiracy to deliver fentanyl and delivery of fentanyl. McAfee is charged with conspiracy to deliver methamphetamine and conspiracy to deliver fentanyl. He also received a habitual offender -- fourth offense notice, which carries a possible life sentence.
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Michigan State Police: 3 million doses of fentanyl seized in I-94 traffic stop
PAW PAW, Mich. – Michigan State Police seized three kilograms of fentanyl during a traffic stop on I-94 in Southwest Michigan. Michigan State Police made the stop in Van Buren County after troopers spotted “several indicators of criminal activity,” eventually searching the vehicle and finding the hidden drugs, WOOD TV reports. “The amount of fentanyl involved in this case is alarming and not typical of what we see day to day,” Capt. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is similar to morphine but is 50 to 100 times more potent. Like morphine, it is a medicine that is typically used to treat patients with severe pain, especially after surgery.

Fentanyl deadliest drug in US, but meth kills more in some places
Hannelore Foerster/Getty Images(CNN) - Fentanyl remains the deadliest drug in the United States, but in some areas of the country, methamphetamine kills more people. In 2017, fentanyl was associated with 38.9% of all drug overdose deaths, an increase from 2016, when it was associated with 29% of all fatal overdoses. This is the second year that CDC analyzed fatal overdoses in this way. While fentanyl was the most common drug involved in fatal overdoses nationally, there was a geographic divide, the report said. In 2017, the latest year for which complete data is available, more than 70,000 people died from drug overdoses.

San Francisco inmates, deputies hospitalized after narcotic exposure
Copyright 2019 CNNSAN FRANCISCO - Five inmates and eight deputies from a San Francisco County jail were taken to the hospital after exposure to a narcotic -- possibly fentanyl, authorities said. The San Francisco Fire Department responded Tuesday evening to a call from sheriff's deputies who found an unresponsive inmate at County Jail #4 at the Hall of Justice. The inmate, along with four others who showed symptoms, were given Narcan and transported to a local hospital, the San Francisco Sheriff's Department said in a statement. Eight deputies who administered CPR on scene were also exposed to the narcotic and taken to local hospitals. The fire department has cleared the affected area but it still needs to be decontaminated, authorities said.

6 prison staffers hospitalized for possible fentanyl exposure
Wikimedia Commons(CNN) - Six staff members at a prison in Connecticut were taken to local hospitals for possible exposure to fentanyl, the potent synthetic opioid, the Connecticut Department of Correction said. An ambulance was called to the Cheshire Correctional Institute, a state prison, at 9 a.m. on Tuesday to take a correctional officer in medical distress to the hospital, the department said in a statement. The Department of Correction and Connecticut State Police are investigating. The correctional institution has 428 current staffers and emphasizes rewards for deserving inmates, including in educational programming, its website states. That potency means that police, first responders and prison staffers can overdose or suffer health effects after even a minor encounter with the drug.