Opioid Crisis Fast Facts
Here’s a look at the opioid crisis.
Opioids are drugs formulated to replicate the pain-reducing properties of opium. Prescription painkillers like morphine, oxycodone and hydrocodone are opioids. Illegal drugs like heroin and illicitly made fentanyl are also opioids. The word “opioid” is derived from the word “opium.”
Common Opioids
Hydrocodone and oxycodone are semi-synthetic opioids, manufactured in labs with natural and synthetic ingredients.
Fentanyl is a fully synthetic opioid, originally developed as a powerful anesthetic for surgery. It is also administered to alleviate severe pain associated with terminal illnesses like cancer. The drug is up to 100 times more powerful than morphine. Just a small dose can be deadly. Illicitly produced fentanyl has been a driving factor in the number of overdose deaths in recent years.
After the raging pandemic in Argentina prompted the co-hosts of the Copa America soccer tournament to pull out, the premier South American sports event is set to be moved to Brazil. Some members of the Japanese government’s coronavirus expert panel warned that it would be “difficult” to hold the Olympics this summer if Tokyo’s virus situation remains at the highest of four levels, reports said, even as the first group of foreign athletes arrived.
Timothy M. O’Shea, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin; Richard G. Frohling, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin; Lamont Pugh III, Special Agent in Charge, U.S.
Peru updated its official death toll from Covid-19 on Monday, adding more than 110,000 fatalities than previously reported. As the raging pandemic in Argentina prompted co-hosts of the Copa America soccer tournament to pull out, the decision was made to move the premier South American sports event to Brazil.