Justin’s foster mother said her daughter had handed off the toddler and his siblings to Daniel that morning at a Taco Bell. Darthard gave detectives a conflicting account, saying she had picked up the kids from the foster mother a day earlier. An autopsy would confirm that Justin died from exposure to fentanyl, a highly potent opioid that can be deadly to kids in the tiniest amounts. “It was fentanyl,” Justin’s grandfather told paramedics when they arrived at his Lancaster home, according to a sheriff’s report. Naloxone is safe and easy to use and works almost immediately, the CDPH says.

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Try not to use the word overdose and avoid mentioning anything relating to drugs. Naloxone is incredibly safe and won’t affect people who don’t have opioids in their system. If they alcohols effects on the brain wake up after you inject naloxone, explain what happened. Stay with them until medical personnel arrive, and let medical personnel know that the person has been given naloxone.

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Cappelli said the county also plans to ramp up housing opportunities and social services options for people who are struggling with addiction and who are also homeless. Justin’s foster mother said she had been trying to stop the supervised visits because she believed Darthard was drinking during them. In Bakersfield, a 2-year-old died from acute fentanyl toxicity, and his father has been charged with murder. In California, there were 11 fentanyl-related deaths for children younger than 5 in 2023, according to preliminary data. In a study published in Harm Reduction Journal, a team led by CUNY SPH researchers examined why Connecticut’s good Samaritan laws aren’t working as intended to reduce opioid deaths.

Recovery position

1. Mixing ibuprofen with alcohol can also increase your risk of having serious side effects, like stomach or intestinal bleeding.
2. These pills are dangerous because they typically appear as pharmaceutical pills but often contain illegally made fentanyl and illegal benzodiazepines or other drugs, with or without people’s knowledge.
3. It’s common for a family to request that a friend or relative serve as a monitor for visits, instead of a social worker.
4. Nicole Leonard is a health and science reporter for WHYY News.

If you know the person, yell their name or try yelling something you know they wouldn’t like, to see if it arouses them. If you don’t know the person, yell and ask if they need help. If yelling doesn’t wake them, and you’re able to get to the person safely, you can also attempt to perform a sternum rub by running your knuckles against the center of the person’s chest with some slight force to wake them. Many states have a “Good Samaritan” law, which provides limited immunity from arrest or prosecution for minor drug law violations for people who get help at the scene of an overdose. These give immunity from arrest, charge, or prosecution when experiencing or responding to an unintentional overdose. It’s understandable to be concerned about police involvement.

You should also not mix alcohol with prescription drugs without checking with your doctor first. A drug overdose is taking too much of a substance, whether it’s prescription, over-the-counter, legal, or illegal. If you’ve taken more than the recommended amount of a drug or enough to have a harmful effect on your body’s functions, you have overdosed. In a 2020 study, 75% of overdose deaths involved a prescription or illicit opioid, including 62% that involved a synthetic opioid other than methadone, such as fentanyl. The increase of xylazine present in those who died from drug overdoses does have people worried.

People experiencing an opioid overdose need naloxone (commonly known by the brand name Narcan®). Naloxone can reverse the effects of an overdose if it’s given to the person quickly. The person will still need medical attention after the administration of naloxone.

In addition, individuals using naltrexone for MOUD have a reduced tolerance to opioids, and therefore, using the same, or even lower doses of opioids used in the past, can cause life-threating consequences. Substance use disorders (SUDs) impact the lives of millions of Americans. More than 100,000 people died from drug overdoses from April 2020 to 2021, an increase of 28.5% from the prior year, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In a hospital setting, healthcare providers order drug tests to diagnose opioid overdose. They also perform other tests to assess the health of the person and to look for possible complications.

Daniel was not a social worker but a friend of Justin’s mother, Jessica Darthard. The team conducted six GMB workshops with community members, first responders, health care experts, and other stakeholders, aiming to build a shared understanding of factors influencing bystander responses to overdoses. The antidote to acetaminophen overdose is N-acetylcysteine (NAC). It is most effective when given within eight hours of ingesting acetaminophen. For this reason, it is absolutely necessary that acetaminophen poisoning be recognized, diagnosed, and treated as early as possible. Recovery treatments will involve learning how to resist the urge to use the medication.

The drug is most commonly added to fentanyl and can cause hours-long blackouts and necrosis of the skin, which can lead to amputation. Florida lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis have increased the criminalization of opioids in recent years, and the state leads the country in fentanyl seizures, Moody said. Always read product labels carefully and take the smallest amount of ibuprofen possible that will help relieve your symptoms. At the hospital, doctors will monitor breathing, heart rate, and other vital signs. A doctor may insert a tube through the mouth to look for internal bleeding. Adults over 60 years old should take as little ibuprofen as possible to manage their symptoms.

Buprenorphine is a medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). If you have depression or suicidal thoughts, contact mental health and substance abuse health coverage options your doctor right away. If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for support and assistance from a trained counselor.

An opioid overdose happens when opioids negatively affect the part of your brain that regulates breathing, resulting in ineffective breathing. A person experiencing an opioid overdose needs naloxone and immediate medical care to prevent death. Camden County Director Commissioner Louis Cappelli, Jr. credits public awareness campaigns, addiction treatment programs and the opioid overdose reversal medication, naloxone, for the local decline in deaths. By combining immediate medical interventions with long-term treatment strategies, healthcare providers can effectively manage drug overdoses and support patients in their recovery journey. Recognizing drug overdose signs and learning about treatments can help save lives. Signs and symptoms vary with the substance ingested, the method used, and many other factors, as do the treatments.

If you’d like to learn more about helping drug addicts, check out our in-depth interview with Catherine Boswell, PhD. Xylazine test strips have not been decriminalized in Florida, but fentanyl test strips are not considered paraphernalia as of 2023. Nationally, 27 states allow for the possession of all drug checking material.

Neither Darthard nor her father mentioned a monitor in any of the social worker or sheriff’s reports reviewed by The Times. The National Institute on Drug Abuse recently to build evidence on how to implement and sustain overdose education and naloxone distribution ecstasy addiction and abuse (OEND) in HIV care settings. Treatment in the emergency department depends on the condition of the person and any other medications taken. If you or a member of your household has taken or may have taken an overdose of acetaminophen, take quick action.

When it comes to drug overdose, being proactive is essential to reversing overdose and preventing death. If you see these signs of overdose, do not abandon the person out of fear of getting in trouble. Narcan is a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Among the drugs found in those who overdosed, ketamine (sometimes called ‘Special K’), xylazine (‘tranq’) and cathinones, also known as bath salts, were present in more people in 2023 than in 2022.