Halloween is Over and It Looks Like No One Got Fentanyl Candy After All Law-enforcement spent weeks scaremongering about opioids showing up in candy this Halloween. Despite the media frenzy, no drugs seem to have actually turned up. Jerry Iannelli
When My Brother Died Of An Overdose, The State Charged Two People With Murder. That Isn’t Justice. You can’t incarcerate a public health problem. It doesn’t make us safer. It doesn’t repair harm. Daveen Trentman
In Pennsylvania, Overdose Deaths Were Falling. Then COVID-19 Hit. Advocates say the pandemic has exacerbated the overdose crisis in the state by forcing people into isolation and impeding access to treatment. Joshua Vaughn
Fatal Overdose Deaths Soar In Communities Across The Country Amid COVID-19 Pandemic In Cook County, Illinois, suspected or confirmed fatal overdose deaths doubled over last year in the first five months of this year. Elizabeth Brico
A Public Health Focus On Coronavirus Shouldn’t Sideline Overdose Prevention Efforts Recent successes in stemming the opioid crisis could be reversed if public health budgets are cut or the crisis is seen as secondary to the pandemic. Jacqueline Goldman, Brandon Marshall
Undercover Providence Police Faked Withdrawal Symptoms and Solicited Suboxone Rhode Island prosecutors charged nine people with felony distribution of the addiction treatment drug. Reform prosecutors in other states are declining such charges and instead encouraging access to the drug. Julia Rock, Harry August
A Heroin Case With ‘Breaking Bad’ References Ensnares a Small-Time Dealer Dennis Sica struggled with substance use disorder and sold small amounts of heroin that prosecutors connected to overdose deaths. Because of an 1980s-era federal law, he was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Jon Campbell
Federal Crackdown On Fentanyl Analogues Repeats the Mistakes of the Drug War, Advocates Warn Legislators are considering giving the DEA dangerous authority, harm reduction advocates say. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
How to Rethink Drug Dealing and Punishment Criminalizing those who sell drugs by enacting more punitive laws may lead to more dangerous drug use and will disproportionately affect communities of color, a new report suggests. Zachary A. Siegel
Inequality, Not Violence, Is Killing Americans At Record Rates Media coverage obsessively focuses on homicides, which are at historical lows. Meanwhile, suicides and overdoses skyrocket, quietly driving record declines in American life expectancy. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
The Appeal Podcast: The Media’s Misguided Fentanyl Hype With Appeal contributor Maia Szalavitz Adam H. Johnson
Media Frame: Fentanyl Panic Is Worsening the Overdose Crisis Sensational and false news reports about the drug are pushing lawmakers to enact harmful policies. Zachary A. Siegel, Maia Szalavitz
State Trooper Said Man Took Bag From Fentanyl Supplier, But Video Demonstrated That The Deal Never Went Down Trooper testimony inconsistent with video and misconduct among state and local law enforcement in New Hampshire and Massachusetts have caused at least 15 drug cases to unravel. Zachary A. Siegel
Cops Claimed She Set Up A Drug Deal. Now She’s Being Prosecuted For Manslaughter. A Florida woman with substance use disorder allegedly brokered a drug sale that ended in a fatal overdose; she faces 15 years in prison. Zachary A. Siegel
Drug Testing Organizations Save Lives, So Why Haven’t Rave and Concert Organizers Embraced Them? Groups like the Loop and DanceSafe test drugs like Ecstasy and warn users of high dosages and adulterants, but federal legislation from the early 2000s has live music promoters wary of their brand of harm reduction. Zachary A. Siegel
