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Arizona law prohibits edibles from being designed to look like children’s candies, such as gummy bears. and marijuana gummies for adults must be labeled with the specific dose on individual gummies and their container. State law limits edibles to a maximum of 10mg of THC per edible and 100mg of THC per package of edibles.

The number of children who mistake edible marijuana for candy is on the rise, with panicked parents calling Arizona poison control centers for help- and experts say nearly 60% of 394 pediatric cannabis incidents last year required a hospital visit. Read more»

Pima County Attorney Laura Conover spoke against the proposed bill, saying that there are already laws on the books that prosecutors can use for these types of deaths, and her office has successfully prosecuted several dealers for manslaughter.

A proposed Arizona law that would allow drug dealers to be charged with homicide if their product killed someone was shot down by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, with one lawmaker saying it would cause more problems that it would solve. Read more»

National Guard Sgt. Tommy Morga educates parents about how drugs like fentanyl are sold through social media apps such as Snapchat. Although drug dealers operate through many social media platforms, experts are most worried about Snapchat due to the app’s anonymity, disappearing messages and lack of third-party monitoring.

Although drug dealers operate on many social media platforms, experts are most worried about Snapchat due to the app’s anonymity, and an Arizona effort is underway to help inform parents of the dangers of fentanyl and cartels’ use of social media to reach vulnerable youth. Read more»

In 2021, Border Patrol agents in Yuma found 5 pounds of fentanyl, worth about $60,000, stuffed into breakfast burritos in a backpack in a vehicle. Fentanyl, which was developed in 1960 to manage pain in cancer patients, is easy for drug cartels to manufacture and distribute in the U.S.

Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s claim that fentanyl overdoses are the leading cause of death in Arizona is false, though the synthetic opioid has been partially responsible for an increase in the number of drug overdose deaths both nationally and locally. Read more»

Driven in large part by COVID-19, life expectancy in the U.S. fell by 1.8 years in 2020, down from 78.8 years in 2019 to 77 years, the sharpest decline since World War II. Arizona’s drop was even steeper, falling from 78.8 to 76.3 years, one of the biggest declines in the nation.

Arizona life expectancy fell by 2.5 years in 2020, posting one of the steepest drops in a nation that saw the sharpest declines in lifespans since World War II, with COVID, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and overdoses playing a part. Read more»

En muchos casos, las víctimas de sobredosis son estudiantes sobresalientes o atletas estrella de los suburbios, lo que da lugar a un ejército de padres educados y comprometidos que desafían el silencio y el estigma que rodea a las muertes por drogas.

Los padres están luchando contra la cada vez más mortal crisis de las drogas y están presionando a los legisladores estatales para que impongan penas más estrictas a los traficantes y controlen las redes sociales. Read more»

In many cases, the overdose victims are straight-A students or star athletes from the suburbs, giving rise to an army of educated, engaged parents who are challenging the silence and stigma surrounding drug deaths.

A nationwide movement of parents fighting the increasingly deadly drug crisis - modeled after Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which sparked a movement in the 1980's - are pressing state lawmakers for stricter penalties for dealers and social media controls. Read more»

A GOP plan to impose stiff prison sentences against those who make and sell fentanyl is more likely to sweep up drug addicts than the dealers it ostensibly seeks to punish, critics said Thursday. Read more»

Customs and Border Protection officers after the January 2019 seizure of 650 pounds of fentanyl and methamphetamines in Nogales. Experts say an increase in the availability of such deadly drugs, combined with the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, led to historic levels of drug overdoses in the U.S. last year.

The COVID-19 pandemic and a growing unsafe drug supply combined to push overdose deaths up by 27.6% in the U.S. over a 12-month period from 2020 to 2021, a surge in deaths that was matched in Arizona. Read more»

When harm-reduction groups can’t order naloxone, the people they serve can die.

As overdose deaths nationwide reach all-time highs, increasing access to naloxone is a key part of the Biden administration's overdose prevention strategy - but advocates say the administration has not addressed their greatest barrier to obtaining the lifesaving medication. Read more»

Health officials in Arizona, like other states across the country, said they have seen increases in suicides and overdose deaths in recent months. That has left them asking if those deaths might be linked “to the isolation and loneliness” from COVID-19 restrictions.

As social distancing and isolation continue throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many states across the country are reporting an increase in reported drug overdoses and suicides, including Arizona. Read more»

A dip in life expectancy in recent years, in both Arizona and the U.S., has been attributed to higher mortality among younger groups of people, driven by rising numbers of suicides and alcohol- and drug-related deaths.

After decades of steady increases, life expectancy in the U.S. ticked down slightly over three recent years, a drop attributed to a rise in “cause-specific” deaths like suicides and drug overdoses among those aged 25 to 64. Read more»

The Commonwealth Fund’s Scorecard on State Health System Performance reported 'alarming' increases in suicides, overdoses and alcohol-related deaths, and although rates in Arizona were not rising as quickly as the rest of the country in most cases, the rates still were higher in all three categories.

Deaths from drug overdoses, alcohol and suicide have grown more slowly in Arizona than in the nation as whole since 2005, but death rates in the state still exceed the nation in every category, according to a recent national survey. Read more»