Cassandra D. Gipson

Aug 20, 2023 | frontiersin.org | Donna M. Platt |Cassandra D. Gipson |Luana Ferreira

1 IntroductionOpioid misuse and addiction represent an ongoing public health crisis. In the United States, the annual number of deaths attributed to opioids now exceeds the annual number of deaths from firearms and motor vehicle accidents (Center for Disease Control, 2023a).

Jul 26, 2023 | nature.com | Cassandra D. Gipson |Justin C. Strickland

Changes in the drug supply landscape directly influence morbidity and mortality with the reduced efficacy of naloxone to reverse fentanyl overdose (versus heroin) emphasizing this impact [1]. The rapid spread of the veterinary anesthetic xylazine in the opioid drug supply (also known as “tranq”) poses a similar public health challenge resulting in a 1127% increase in xylazine-positive overdose mortalities in the American south from 2020 to 2021 [2].