Opioid Epidemic

Kankakee County officials say they’ve seen nine suspected drug overdoses in just 48 hours and three people did not survive.

From 2017 to 2019, prosecutors said Biesiada fraudulently wrote 85 prescriptions to an acquaintance for hydrocodone, oxycodone and other controlled substances.

Cook County recorded more homicides last year than it had in decades, yet twice as many people died from opioid overdose, a rising epidemic that has a growing number of health experts pressing for safe spaces to inject drugs.

The initiative will launch in 14 libraries across the city in mid-January and expand to 27 total branches later in 2022, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Homicides and opioid overdose deaths rose in Cook County last year, and while deaths from COVID-19 decreased, they still comprised more than a third of the cases handled by the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

With drug overdoses on the rise, DuPage County is doubling its budget for a special opioid task force.

The DEA has seized more than 9.5-million fake pills this year alone, which is more than the past two years combined.

Amid an increase in pharmacy robberies, CVS unveiled a new plan to keep drugs safe in Illinois by slowing down the thieves with time delay safes.

Drug overdose deaths increased 30 percent nationwide and hit record levels during the pandemic. 

Drugs overdoses are surging in the United States, having taken more live than gun violence and car accidents combined.