Drug-related deaths in Florida dropped 14% between 2023 and 2024, with fentanyl deaths plunging by 35%, according to new state data that officials say reflects the success of increased funding and stronger recovery programs.

The city of Jacksonville Beach recognized International Overdose Awareness Day on Sunday with the second annual Beaches Memorial Walk.

In recent days and weeks, JSO has been busy shutting down organized illegal drug operations, and with each raid, police have been seizing large amounts of harmful drugs, money, and guns.

A 48-year-old Palm Coast woman has been charged with manslaughter in connection with the overdose death of 22-year-old Calvin Stull, whose body was discovered in Belle Terre Park just over one year ago.

Fentanyl fueled a record number of homeless deaths last year in Oregon’s Multnomah County, home to Portland.

Jurors have asked to review police and bystander video at the heart of the New York City chokehold manslaughter case against Daniel Penny.

Four months after a baby overdosed on fentanyl, the child's father was arrested on one count of child neglect.

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman has unveiled plans to create a statewide drug prevention program.

U.S. Border Patrol agents seized over 2 lbs. of Fentanyl that was discovered washed up on the beach by a Good Samaritan, Andrew Scharnweber, Interim Chief Patrol Agent of the U.S. Border Patrol’s Miami Sector, said.

As President Joe Biden bows out of the White House, he is taking one more aim at Congress to combat illegal drugs like fentanyl. One of those is a proposal through what is called the National Security Memorandum to make fentanyl a Schedule I drug.

Federal agents taught teens about the dangers of illegal drug use at a healthcare summer camp.

Their voices were a heartbreaking reminder that fentanyl continues to be the number one drug threat in Florida and across the country.

A recent report by the Florida Medical Examiner’s Commission revealed a slight decrease in the number of drug-related deaths in 2022, bringing a new glimmer of hope for families who have loved ones battling drug addiction.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is throwing allegations at his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and even raising the prospect of removing him from office.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has announced economic sanctions against 15 people and two companies that the United States says are linked to a Mexican drug cartel.

A Jacksonville man was arrested and accused on 16 charges, including manslaughter, following an investigation that started with a fentanyl overdose death earlier this year, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

Election officials around the country are stocking up on the overdose reversal medication naloxone after a series of suspicious mailings — some containing traces of fentanyl — were sent to vote centers or government buildings in six states.

Threatening letters sent to local election offices in at least five states, some including fentanyl, are the latest concern for local election workers around the country.

The Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on 13 members of Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa cartel and four Mexico-based firms accused of trafficking fentanyl into the United States.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced a new government-wide strategy that will target not only fentanyl but precursor materials used to make the synthetic opioid.

The Biden administration is taking aim at the fentanyl trafficking threat, announcing a series of indictments and sanctions against Chinese companies and executives blamed for importing the chemicals used to make the deadly drug.

About 150 people from families who have lost a loved one to fentanyl poisoning have gathered at the headquarters of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as the U.S. faces its deadliest overdose crisis.

A drug made to treat animals is now being used by drug dealers to hook more addicts and it's killing people. The drug is called Xylazine and it's being mixed with fentanyl. A deadly combination that has put Duval county at the top of a list no county wants to be on. More people are dying here than any other county in the state.

Many in the medical community and law enforcement are split on if first responders are in danger by fentanyl exposure alone.

A chilling body camera video shows a local deputy's encounter with fentanyl, as he asks another deputy for an ambulance. This close call Thursday was one of many topics of conversation at a fentanyl roundtable in Clay County Friday morning.

A deputy's first-person perspective during a dangerous fentanyl exposure Thursday was captured on his body camera, along with a Narcan rescue by a fellow deputy that likely saved his life, the Flagler County Sheriff's Office said.

Mexico has closed 23 pharmacies at Caribbean coast resorts, six months after a research report warned that drug stores in Mexico were offering foreigners pills they passed off as Oxycodone, Percocet, and Adderall.

The 17-year-old father of a 9-month-old baby that died after suffering from a fentanyl overdose is still in disbelief after his son’s untimely death.

Fentanyl is the most common cause of fatal drug overdoses in the U.S. and Jacksonville is not immune.

Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said a 9-month-old child died last month after the child’s teenage mother put fentanyl in the child’s bottle.

A pair of independent operations targeting fentanyl traffickers in Jacksonville netted a slew of guns, more than $370,000 worth of drugs and two arrests, Sheriff T.K. Waters announced Wednesday.

For the first time in U.S. history, the White House has declared a drug to be an emerging threat to the United States. The DEA says Xylazine, which is an animal tranquilizer is being used with the synthetic opioid fentanyl, and the results are deadly.

A growing number of states are decriminalizing fentanyl testing strips, seeking to protect people who use drugs from unwitting exposure to the highly potent synthetic opioid ravaging the U.S. with overdose deaths.

The United States has sanctioned a son of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, three members of the Sinaloa cartel and two Mexican-based firms, alleging they trafficked fentanyl and other drugs into the U.S. Tuesday's sanctions came the day Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador talked with President Joe Biden about immigration and the fentanyl crisis.

Gov. Ron DeSantis was in Titusville on Monday to sign three bills including one aimed at cracking down on those who sell fentanyl.

California lawmakers have authored more than 30 bills in the Legislature this year to address fentanyl.

Over the course of a year, the U.S. Treasury Department has used the hammer of its sanctions powers to impose wide-ranging financial restrictions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, turning Russia into the most sanctioned country in the world.

A nurse who previously worked at a Florida outpatient surgical center has been convicted of stealing fentanyl and replacing the powerful pain medication with saline.

For the first time in U.S. history, the White House has declared a drug to be an emerging threat to the United States. The DEA says Xylazine, which is an animal tranquilizer, is being used with the synthetic opioid fentanyl, and the results are deadly.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has issued a warning about an increase in fentanyl mixed with xylazine being trafficked in 48 out of 50 states.

A Jacksonville attorney is cautioning vacation rental owners to make sure their rentals are clean after each guest leaves.

The Drug Enforcement Administration announced this week that it seized more than 379 million doses of fentanyl in the year 2022 — enough to kill the entire population of the U.S. and Canada.

For years, naloxone, which is also sold under the commonly-known brand name Narcan, has been used to reverse the effects of a life-threatening opioid overdose.

Although fentanyl has become a leading drug for overdoses, it is a legal pharmaceutical drug. It’s a synthetic opioid for severe pain and is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A monthslong, multi-agency investigation named “Operation: Heavyweights” has resulted in 54 arrests and the seizure of hundreds of pounds of illegal narcotics, Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper announced Tuesday.

The drug has become a central part of the immigration debate nationally.

JSO said it seized three kilograms of fentanyl, 1.26 kilograms of cocaine, and over 6,000 counterfeit pills.

A fugitive found in Flagler County faces charges after deputies say he had 200 grams of fentanyl, which is enough to potentially kill 100,000 people.

A St. Augustine mom is speaking up about fentanyl deaths after her daughter died in May from being unknowingly exposed to the deadly drug.

Advocates say it’s a tool that can save lives from fentanyl overdoses, but they’re outlawed in Florida.

Fentanyl is a deadly synthetic opioid that can easily mix with other drugs to the point where you may not know it’s there.

A Palm Coast 18-year-old was arrested around 12:40 Monday morning during an undercover operation set up by the Flagler County Sheriff's Office.

A nurse working at a Florida hospital has pleaded guilty to stealing fentanyl and replacing the powerful pain medication with saline.

A small, rural county just west of Florida’s capital is stunned by an unheard-of spike in deadly drug overdoses believed to be caused by fentanyl mixed with other illegal drugs.

A fairly new drug is finding its way into the U.S., and law enforcement personnel say it’s 20 times more potent than fentanyl.

The number of people dying as a result of an overdose is growing.

Los Angeles police say three men were found dead of suspected drug overdoses involving fentanyl.

Community activists in South Florida sprang into action after West Point cadets on spring break were sickened by fentanyl-laced cocaine at a house party.

For the first time in US history, more than 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses over a one year period.

The CDC predicts there will be record breaking amount of drug overdoses as the number continues to rise.

Police are looking a man wanted on charges of fentanyl trafficking, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.

An inmate at the Camden County Detention Facility has been charged with providing the drugs resulting in another inmate’s death by overdose, according to U.S. Attorney Bobby Christine. “It’s particularly disturbing to learn of this poison’s presence as contraband in a detention facility.”The investigation began May 17 when an inmate at the Camden County Detention Facility identified as J.D. The indictment alleges that Swing provided the fentanyl to J.D. The case is being investigated by the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office at the request of the Camden County Sheriff’s Office. “The death of any person is a tragedy, but a death caused as a result of illegal narcotic distribution is even more terrible for the families of victims,” Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk said.

A Flagler County grand jury has indicted Jevante Taquana Hamilton on a first-degree murder charge in the death of a 25-year-old man who died last year from an overdose of Fentanyl. The investigation into the overdose death began Aug. 24, when Flagler County detectives found drug paraphernalia and baggy later determined to contain Fentanyl near the body. The State Attorney’s Office determined there was enough evidence to present the case to the grand jury. Delays in presenting the case to the grand jury were caused by the current COVID-19 pandemic. “This is the second successful investigation of a drug dealer who caused an overdose death being indicted by a grand jury for murder in Flagler County,” Sheriff Rick Staly said.

Wikimedia Commons(CNN) - Nine members of a cross-border fentanyl smuggling ring were sentenced at a public hearing in a Chinese courtroom Thursday, a rare display by Beijing of its efforts to crack down on the highly-addictive drug. After three months of investigation, Chinese narcotics authorities busted the drug ring in a series of raids across the country, including in Hebei and Jiangsu provinces. Yu said that after the fentanyl was manufactured in China, it was sent overseas in postal packages. In a statement released in August, the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy claimed that China "continues to pour poison into our communities." He added that since 2012 the US had only shared six leads with Chinese authorities, three of which Yu claimed had led to joint investigations.

Fentanyl remains the deadliest drug in the United States, but in some areas of the country, methamphetamine kills more people.

(CNN) - Fentanyl remains the deadliest drug in the United States, but in some areas of the country, methamphetamine kills more people. In 2017, fentanyl was associated with 38.9% of all drug overdose deaths, an increase from 2016, when it was associated with 29% of all fatal overdoses. While fentanyl was the most common drug involved in fatal overdoses nationally, there was a geographic divide, the report said. In 2017, the latest year for which complete data is available, more than 70,000 people died from drug overdoses. Final data for 2018 hasn't been released, but early figures show overdose deaths involving meth have increased.

Copyright 2019 CNNSAN FRANCISCO - Five inmates and eight deputies from a San Francisco County jail were taken to the hospital after exposure to a narcotic -- possibly fentanyl, authorities said. The San Francisco Fire Department responded Tuesday evening to a call from sheriff's deputies who found an unresponsive inmate at County Jail #4 at the Hall of Justice. The inmate, along with four others who showed symptoms, were given Narcan and transported to a local hospital, the San Francisco Sheriff's Department said in a statement. Eight deputies who administered CPR on scene were also exposed to the narcotic and taken to local hospitals. The fire department has cleared the affected area but it still needs to be decontaminated, authorities said.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is the lead agency investigating the deaths of the inmates and the department's Office of Inspector General is assisting. Visitation was canceled Sunday at Columbia Correctional Institution. The overdoses occurred in the annex portion of the Columbia Correctional Institution, which is a separate building from the main one. According to the FDOC, 20 people have died in the Columbia Correctional Institution Annex since 2014. Columbia Correctional Institution has seen a host of problems over the years.

Wikimedia Commons(CNN) - Six staff members at a prison in Connecticut were taken to local hospitals for possible exposure to fentanyl, the potent synthetic opioid, the Connecticut Department of Correction said. An ambulance was called to the Cheshire Correctional Institute, a state prison, at 9 a.m. on Tuesday to take a correctional officer in medical distress to the hospital, the department said in a statement. The Department of Correction and Connecticut State Police are investigating. The correctional institution has 428 current staffers and emphasizes rewards for deserving inmates, including in educational programming, its website states. That potency means that police, first responders and prison staffers can overdose or suffer health effects after even a minor encounter with the drug.

The report contains the latest available data from the state and distinguishes between opioid-related deaths and opioid-caused deaths. Both opioid-related deaths and opioid-caused deaths are down, the report shows. There were 2,773 opioid-related deaths in the first half of 2018, a 10 percent decrease from the same time the prior year. Fentanyl caused 1,101 deaths in Florida during the first half of 2018 -- more than any other drug -- followed by cocaine, which caused 844 deaths, and benzodiazepines, which killed 559 people, according to the report. That figure includes deaths that were caused by drugs and deaths where drugs were found.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A grand jury indicted a man on a charge of first-degree murder Thursday in the death of a man from a fentanyl overdose -- the first murder indictment in the Fourth Judicial Circuit using a law passed last year by the Florida Legislature. After Thursday's indictment, Wadley was rebooked on one count of murder in the August 2018 death of Timothy Sexton. Law enforcement and lawmakers hope a murder charge will deter drug dealers. While the Wadley first-degree murder charge is breaking new ground for state prosecutors, it's not the first time authorities have pursued drug dealers for murder through the drugs they sold. The State Attorneys Office charged him initially with murder, but that charge was dropped when his case was moved to federal court.