Fentanyl

A new report shows death rates for people under 40 are surging across the United States, including parts of the Mountain West.

Some lawmakers want to protect those who report overdoses and provide 'safe use sites' for drug users. Others want to increase punishments for possession and distribution of controlled substances, especially fentanyl.

Some campaign commercials and mailers in our region are mentioning the deadly drug fentanyl and border security. According to experts, though, that may be oversimplifying the deadly issue.

New research in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that teens haven’t used more illegal drugs over the last decade. However, they are dying from drug overdoses at twice the rate.

Deadly overdoses from the synthetic opioid fentanyl are a growing problem. The drug is useful for doctors, but now it’s showing up all over. There are ways to test for it, but in some cases, that’s illegal, too. The Mountain West News Bureau’s Madelyn Beck explains.

Sheriff’s deputies in Washoe County, Nevada, responded to two fentanyl overdoses in a 12-hour span earlier this month.

Fentanyl test strips and better data may be a few of the many solutions to the opioid epidemic and the Mountain West's spike in overdose deaths.

In the high-stakes fight against fentanyl-induced drug deaths, one remedy is fairly simple: blue and white strips of paper. Fentanyl test strips work like a pregnancy test. One line shows up if there’s fentanyl in a solution. Two lines if there’s none. But where are they needed most?

Fatal drug overdoses are skyrocketing, driven by synthetic opioids like fentanyl. And that potentially deadly drug has made it to the Mountain West – the last part of the U.S. to face the brunt of the opioid crisis.

Pills that are laced with fentanyl or contain nothing but fentanyl are coming into the Mountain West via the border with Mexico. About a quarter of the fentanyl pills seized by the DEA have had enough fentanyl to kill.