In February I wrote about opioid epidemic opportunists who were playing on people’s fears to make profits. Among them are the OPVEE people who are targeting police departments to try to get them to help market their high-dose nalmafene, a long lasting opioid antagonist that medical professionals believe is both unnecessary and dangerous. These opportunists…
There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who park head first and those who back in. The numbers of those who back in are increasing every day. Like most in the older generation, I park head first unless there is an unusual situation. If I am in a lot when I know…
Tomorrow is Thursday and I am sad that The Pitt has finished its season 1 run of 15 episodes and there are no new episodes to watch. While I have a few criticisms of the show, overall, I thought it was the best medical TV show ever and among my top 5 favorites of any…
Medetomidine, an animal sedative, appears to be replacing xylazine as a significant adulterant in fentanyl and perhaps other drugs. According to reports from Philadelphia, one of the areas where xylazine first gained prominence, medetomidine was in 87% of samples of fentanyl in November 2024 compared to just 42% of samples which contained xylazine, while at…
This week, Attorney General Pam Biondi claimed President Trump had saved 119 million lives in the first 100 days of his administration through the nation’s drug seizure activities. Later in the day, in a cabinet meeting, she claimed the number of lives saved was 258 million. This claim is based on the US seizing 22.2 million…
Johnson & Johnson, say it isn’t so. I just finished listening to No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson, by investigative reporter Gardiner Harris, who takes down the corporation that has long had a reputation as one of America’s finest and most ethical companies. Listen to this: “Fifteen years into one of…
A child finds a needle in the park. He accidentally sticks himself with it. This entails a trip to the ED and great worry from his family but fortunately no permanent harm comes from the episode. What do we do about the problem of used syringes left in public places? There is an interesting article…
I am proud to announce my latest book, The Friends and Family Guide to the Opioid Overdose Epidemic: Including How to Recognize and Treat an Overdose, will be published on August 26, 2025 by Johns Hopkins University Press. You can preorder at this link: Order Now Here’s the description from the publisher’s site: A practical…
“We need a lot more naloxone than ever before. The drugs are so powerful today some people need 20 milligrams”. I hear this or versions of it in many of the opioid task force meetings I attend around the state. No, I say. The research I have based on over 20,000 EMS run forms shows…
A mayor in California has proposed giving free fentanyl to his city’s homeless to kill them off. California mayor wants to give homeless people ‘all the fentanyl they want’: ‘Need to purge these people’ “Quite frankly, I wish that the president would give us a purge. Because we do need to purge these people,” Lancaster…
The latest CDC provisional overdose fatality data is out and continues to show nationwide decline in fatal overdoses through October of 2024, down 26.5% over the last 12 months and 27.6% from its June 2023 12-month high, declining to a level equivalent to May 2020 (shortly after COVID hit). It should be noted that more…
The call is for a seizure. A 9-year-old boy with epilepsy falls off the couch and is observed seizing, with full tonic-clonic activity. His mom shouts for the boy’s older sister to call 911, and then she goes to her purse and takes out the medicine his doctor prescribed for him. She sticks the nozzle…
This week I attended a meeting in the Governor’s office in the state capitol to advocate for a bill creating the state’s first overdose prevention center. I was one of a group of eight meeting with the Governor’s chief of staff. Our group included two mothers who had lost their sons to overdose and were…
You are dispatched for an overdose. You find a 48-year-old homeless man sitting on a park bench, eyes closed, nodding forward. You give him a little shake and he opens his eyes and looks up at you. You ask him if he is okay and he says he is all right. He says he took…
Back in 2016 when the opioid epidemic was starting to heat up, I started paying attention to the heroin bags laying on the ground. The bags were Small glassine envelopes that hold 0.1 grams of powder (mix of opioids like heroin or fentanyl and cut with adulterants like sugars, baby formula, etc) when full, often…
I am a huge fan of the show The Pitt, which I have twice posted about. I love its authenticity, both in medical treatment and emotion. That said, the last two episodes which involve a mass shooting with 80 plus critical patients strained my credibility with all the miraculous and creative saves done by the…
The Investigation team of a local news station ran a story about ambulance response times in Hartford. I-Team: Response times steadily increasing in Hartford, dispatch data shows The hook call: A baby wasn’t breathing. 911 was called. The ambulance response was delayed. The baby, who was eventually transported in a police car (22 minutes…
I started this blog over 20 years ago. At the time I wrote mainly about the interesting calls I was doing. Nowadays, besides writing about the opioid epidemic, it seems I write mostly about being an old medic trying to keep up, beating back father time. This is another one of those posts. I worked…
Final 2024 numbers are out from the Connecticut Office of the Medical Examiner and they show an even greater decline in fatal overdoses in 2024 than anticipated. For the first time since 2016, the state saw fewer than 1000 deaths. Congratulations all who have been working so hard to bring these deaths down. And please…
I testified before the Connecticut Legislature’s Public Health Committee on February 21, 2025 in support of a bill to create an overdose prevention center pilot program in our state. The bill is sponsored by Senator Saud Anwar, a physician and great friend of harm reduction. Here is a link to the text of the bill:…