Bridging the Gap

Alcohol consumption and alcohol-related deaths went up during the Covid-19 pandemic, more than in the last 50 years.

Alcohol consumption and alcohol-related deaths went up during the Covid-19 pandemic, more than in the last 50 years. The opioid crisis also worsened in recent years.

Laura Guzman explains the harm reduction strategy, which comprehensively addresses the drug crisis and seeks to keep people alive and treated with dignity

San Francisco’s drug crisis has quickly worsened as 2023 became the city’s deadliest year for drug overdoses, amid a national rise of fentanyl.

San Francisco’s drug crisis has quickly worsened as 2023 became the city’s deadliest year for drug overdoses, amid a national rise of fentanyl.

San Francisco’s drug crisis has rapidly worsened; 2023 was the deadliest year for drug overdoses.

Veterans are abusing alcohol at higher rates since the Covid-19 pandemic. Studies also show that veterans are more likely to binge drink or abuse alcohol or suffer from mental health disorders than the rest of the population.

"The consumers are white, have low educational attainment, and low incomes... it is an expression of a lack of hope."

“I had to make sure I had alcoholic beverages in my refrigerator before having food.”

Riding as part of a foreign aid package, the FEND OFF Fentanyl Act was signed into law. The legislation declares fentanyl trafficking a national emergency and plans to crack down on drug traffickers in an effort to help combat the opioid crisis.

Camacho told them he was aware of the overdose problem in his community and then enthusiastically accepted a box of Narcan.

Latinos are more likely to engage in heavy drinking and suffer alcohol-related problems, but less likely to seek treatment. On Alcohol Awareness Month, substance use counselors join this program to talk about the risks of excessive alcohol drinking.

California voters recently approved Proposition 1, an initiative that seeks to overhaul mental health care, spend on housing and drug treatment programs, and get homeless people off the streets.

On the heels of National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week, a drug policy expert joins this program to demystify issues related to drug use and addiction among youth. She discusses facts on drug prohibition and the crackdown on drug law violations, the overdose risk, the stigma on medication assisted treatment, and advocates for a health approach to drugs.

In response, state officials say they are working to expand the use of Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program that covers low-income individuals, to help fund navigators by pushing managed care plans to cover these services.

These deaths are largely due to the rapid increase of cheap and potent synthetic drugs like fentanyl, which is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Fentanyl contaminates the drug supply, including heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine, as well as counterfeit pills, according to the CDC.

This is a conversation with freshman congresswoman Yadira Caraveo of Colorado, whose first bill in Congress targeted the rising threat of xylazine, a powerful tranquilizer linked to the escalating epidemic of overdoses. Caraveo, who is a doctor, talks about the devastating impact of fentanyl and meth overdoses among young Latinos and farm workers in Colorado’s rural communities and her plans to address the addiction epidemic.

Opioid addiction and overdose death rates are rising faster among Latinos. This crisis is reaching rural areas, apparently because patients in rural areas were much more likely to receive opioid prescriptions than those in big cities. The Biden administration is urging housing agencies and community development organizations to make naloxone and other life-saving medications available to those most at risk. Where are the hotspots? How to identify opioid use disorder? Are Latinos able to access life-saving treatments? How to prevent and treat the epidemic?

Every five minutes, a person dies from an overdose in the United States. Most cases, according to official data, are due to the use of synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl.

The White House intensified efforts to combat the system that finances illegal drug trafficking from China and Mexico, while also calling on schools across the country to prevent addictions.

There is a lot of bad news when it comes to drug addiction. The numbers of people abusing drugs and dying from drug overdoses are growing.

Drug overdoses killed more than 100,000 people in the US last year. To address the opioid drug crisis, the US Congress is debating a number of bills.

Given the increase in fentanyl use, especially in our Latino community, which is now more frequently seen in a productive sector like construction where many Hispanics work.

'In the last two years, more than 100,000 people have died per year from overdoses, and we are seeing increases in all ethnic groups, but particularly Latinos.'

This time we will talk about the use and consumption of fentanyl, which has caused overdose deaths in the community and is reaching the fields where Latinos mainly work.

While overdose death rates among Latinos have been historically lower than rates among non Latinos, things have changed.

With more than 70,000 overdose deaths a year, the fentanyl crisis is rattling the doors of Congress.

It is a humanitarian crisis that requires a response with methods and treatments from the public health system we have in this country. We need communities, especially African American, Latino, and Indigenous, to have more access to treatment.

The overdose crisis continues to take a huge and increasing death toll in the nation, especially among people in poverty, without health insurance or who are incarcerated.