- Tunisia women herb harvesters struggle with drought and heat
- Trump threatens to take back control of Panama Canal
- India's architecture fans guard Mumbai's Art Deco past
- Secretive game developer codes hit 'Balatro' in Canadian prairie province
- Large earthquake hits battered Vanuatu
- Beaten Fury says Usyk got 'Christmas gift' from judges
- First Singaporean golfer at Masters hopes 'not be in awe' of heroes
- Usyk beats Fury in heavyweight championship rematch
- Stellantis backtracks on plan to lay off 1,100 at US Jeep plant
- Atletico snatch late win at Barca to top La Liga
- Australian teen Konstas ready for Indian pace challenge
- Strong quake strikes off battered Vanuatu
- Tiger Woods and son Charlie share halfway lead in family event
- Bath stay out in front in Premiership as Bristol secure record win
- Mahomes shines as NFL-best Chiefs beat Texans to reach 14-1
- Suspect in deadly Christmas market attack railed against Islam, Germany
- MLB legend Henderson, career stolen base leader, dead at 65
- Albania announces shutdown of TikTok for at least a year
- Laboured Napoli take top spot in Serie A
- Schick hits four as Leverkusen close gap to Bayern on sombre weekend
- Calls for more safety measures after Croatia school stabbings
- Jesus double lifts Christmas spirits for five-star Arsenal
- Frankfurt miss chance to close on Bayern as attack victims remembered
- NBA fines Celtics coach Mazzulla and Nets center Claxton
- Banned Russian skater Valieva stars at Moscow ice gala
- Leading try scorer Maqala takes Bayonne past Vannes in Top 14
- Struggling Southampton appoint Juric as new manager
- Villa heap pain on slumping Man City as Forest soar
- Suspect in deadly Christmas market attack railed against Islam and Germany
- At least 32 die in bus accident in southeastern Brazil
- Freed activist Paul Watson vows to 'end whaling worldwide'
- Chinese ship linked to severed Baltic Sea cables sets sail
- Sorrow and fury in German town after Christmas market attack
- Guardiola vows Man City will regain confidence 'sooner or later' after another defeat
- Ukraine drone hits Russian high-rise 1,000km from frontline
- Villa beat Man City to deepen Guardiola's pain
- 'Perfect start' for ski great Vonn on World Cup return
- Germany mourns five killed, hundreds wounded in Christmas market attack
- Odermatt soars to Val Gardena downhill win
- Mbappe's adaptation period over: Real Madrid's Ancelotti
- France's most powerful nuclear reactor finally comes on stream
- Ski great Vonn finishes 14th on World Cup return
- Scholz visits site of deadly Christmas market attack
- Heavyweight foes Usyk, Fury set for titanic rematch
- Drone attack hits Russian city 1,000km from Ukraine frontier
- Former England winger Eastham dies aged 88
- Pakistan Taliban claim raid killing 16 soldiers
- Pakistan military courts convict 25 of pro-Khan unrest
- US Congress passes bill to avert shutdown
- Sierra Leone student tackles toxic air pollution
Biden administration touts record drop in overdose deaths
President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday celebrated new data showing the largest recorded year-over-year drop in US overdose deaths, attributing the success to its policies including expanding naloxone access and intensifying efforts against illicit fentanyl.
The latest provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed a 14.5 percent predicted reduction in the 12-months ending June 2024, from 113,154 to 96,801.
"When President Biden and Vice President Harris first took office, the number of drug overdose deaths was increasing 31 percent year-over-year," said Rahul Gupta, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).
Gupta highlighted that the Biden-Harris government had removed barriers to treatment, made life-saving opioid overdose reversal medications like naloxone more accessible and affordable, and "invested historic levels of funding to crack down on the supply of illicit fentanyl at the border."
Naloxone, commonly known by the brand name Narcan, is now more accessible in public spaces including schools, workplaces and airports, and is available for over-the-counter purchase at pharmacies nationwide.
America's opioid crisis can be traced back to the 1990s, fueled by the aggressive marketing and widespread prescription of opioid painkillers like OxyContin.
In recent years, overdose deaths have surged, largely due to illicitly manufactured fentanyl -- primarily produced in China and trafficked into the United States through Mexico -- often mixed with stimulants such as methamphetamine and cocaine.
J.V.Jacinto--PC