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Results sorted by updated date (newest first)
Results sorted by updated date (newest first)
Posted 9/1/2021 (updated 4/2/2024)
Posted 6/17/2021 (updated 4/2/2024)
Fueled by misinformation, fentanyl panic has harmed public health through complicating overdose rescue while rationalizing hyper-punitive criminal laws, wasteful expenditures, and proposals to curtail vital access to pain pharmacotherapy. To assess misinformation about health risk from casual contact with fentanyl, we characterize its diffusion and excess visibility in mainstream and social media.
Posted 3/16/2022 (updated 3/27/2024)
Background: Sharp exacerbations of the US overdose crisis are linked to polysubstance use of synthetic compounds. Xylazine is a veterinary tranquilizer, long noted in the street opioid supply of Puerto Rico, and more recently Philadelphia. Yet its national trends, geographic distribution, and health risks are poorly characterized. Methods: In this sequential mixed-methods study, xylazine was increasingly observed by ethnographers in Philadelphia among drug-sellers and people who inject drugs (PWID). Subsequently, we systematically searched for records describing xylazine-present overdose mortality across the US and assessed time trends and overlap with other drugs
Posted 1/26/2022 (updated 3/26/2024)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) looked at data from six states mandated to report on neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), a condition that occurs when newborn babies experience withdrawal from drugs. A previous study of these states – Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia – indicated that the reporting helped determine the prevalence of NAS and identify communities more severely affected. The current report is based on answers to a follow-up questionnaire given to epidemiologists and birth defects program managers from the same six states.