April 25, 2025

One Pill: Fighting Fentanyl Investigation

The fentanyl crisis is killing more Texans than ever before. Victims are getting younger and most people don’t even know they’re taking it. It’s extremely easy to overdose on fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, and people are losing their loved ones. They want you to hear their stories so that they can hopefully help save a life and prevent others from going through what they went through. Some of them have formed non-profit organizations to spread the message. You’ll also learn more about drug trafficking and how law enforcement is attempting to combat the overdose crisis.
April 25, 2025

One Life Too Many: The Toll of the Overdose Crisis

In this brief news report, frontline workers discuss their personal and professional experiences with addiction and what it has been like to respond to an overdose during the opioid crisis. They talk about their loved one’s addiction and how this impacted their ability to help others. However, they also talk about the importance of recognizing compassion fatigue.
April 25, 2025

KELOLAND News Special Report: Opioid Crisis

Over the next hour, we’ll share the stories of people overcome by this dangerous addiction, and we’ll show you the grief families are going through. We’re also taking a look at the local efforts (by doctors and law enforcement) to get ahead of the opioid crisis, and we’re looking at local and national resources. We’ll let you know what’s available, how you can help, and what our community needs.
April 24, 2025

The Fentanyl Crisis: Stories of Heartbreak and Hope

Fentanyl continues to drive overdose deaths in Virginia. Statewide, the synthetic opioid contributed to 76.5% of the 2,656 overdose deaths in 2021, according to the Virginia Department of Health. The community of people who’ve lost loved ones to the drug is quickly growing, many looking for ways to draw focus to a problem they believe is not getting enough attention. (source)
April 24, 2025

Inside Canada’s Fentanyl Overdose Epidemic

SBS Dateline (Australia) wants to know what they can learn from the Canadian opioid crisis and the fatality of fentanyl, and use it as a warning for Australians. This news investigation discusses (1) why fentanyl kills so many young Canadians, (2) how it first came to Canada, (3) the importance of harm reduction services like supervised consumption sites, and (4) programs and support services in place to help people in several different ways.
April 24, 2025

State of Addiction: What Families Need to Know About Opioids

This news special by NBC 6 South Florida discusses the opioid crisis with several individuals, including Mark Wahlberg’s brother Jim Wahlberg. You’ll be introduced to a brief history of opium and quickly realize that this addiction crisis began with easily accessible prescription medications. Drugs are now cut with fentanyl, which is extremely dangerous and lethal. People are losing their lives and law enforcement can’t seem to keep up with the massive influx of drugs coming into the country. You’ll also learn some strategies for talking to children about drugs, which is crucial to do given the sheer impact that opioids are having on youth.
April 24, 2025

Opioid Nation: An American Epidemic

This news investigation by Click Orlando covers the opioid crisis and “explores the lives of those faced with addiction.” They talk with several recovering addicts who provide a grim and honest look into the realities of opioid addiction, and analyze fentanyl specifically and its extreme potency and profitability. There’s also a very emotional part about babies born with an Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) and the impact addiction has on children. Additionally, the importance of Narcan is highlighted as a relatively cheap way to save lives, but not everyone in society agrees. You’ll also learn about a controlled environment that uses virtual reality to help addicts recover – an addition to traditional therapeutic treatments – and other ways of practicing recovery principles.
April 24, 2025

What Makes Ecstasy So Dangerous? (VICE: High Society)

British people statistically take more MDMA in one session than any other country on the planet. And not just a little bit more: on average, Brits take 420 milligrams per session. To put that in perspective, Germans, the same people who invented minimal techno and nightclubs that stay open for 60 hours – take only 200 milligrams. It’s still one of the safest drugs to take, but last year, ecstasy-related deaths reached their highest level in a decade, and now it’s back in the headlines. Some people say it’s drug dealers’ responsibility for selling pills that are dangerously strong and cut with adulterants. Other people point to the government, who have failed to reduce the supply of ecstasy and are refusing to embrace harm reduction strategies that have worked in Europe. Of course it’s also possible that the issue lies with British drug users themselves, who sometimes need reminding that the barometer of a good night out isn’t how much of your tongue is left at the end of it. In this episode of High Society, we find out what’s making ecstasy so dangerous again, and how that danger can be reduced.
April 23, 2025

Gambling Addiction by Design: Slot Machines

Anthropologist Natasha Dow Schüll, the author of Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas, spent 15 years studying how casinos and slot machines are designed to pull users into a trancelike state called the “machine zone” where social demands, worries, and bodily awareness fades away. While in this zone, gamblers are not just playing to win, but rather, to play for as long as possible, regardless of the physical, mental and financial costs. While the gambler loses themselves, the gambling industry profits. She extends this research into digital / smartphone gambling as well.