(NEW YORK) — As the fentanyl crisis continues to sweep across the United States, lawmakers are focused on trying to stop the flow of fentanyl into their communities, but many are saying that curbing the supply from dealers is only part of the larger problem. There’s demand.
After five decades since the start of the war on drugs, critics say these efforts haven’t helped curb drug use.
One in 14 Americans are suffering from some form of addiction to legal or illegal substances, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Some say the rise in fentanyl deaths has been exacerbated by ignoring the opioid crisis and the millions of people who are already suffering from addiction who continue to seek available opioids – in many cases, fentanyl.
Ryan, who wished to be identified by first name only, said he has been living with an opioid addiction for decades. He said he just recently started using fentanyl.
“I stopped for many years. I just relapsed three months ago and I hadn’t used in 10 years,” said Ryan. “Fentanyl is in everything now.”
According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, fentanyl is 80 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Despite the risk, for many people like Ryan, despite how addictive it is, fentanyl quickly becomes their drug of choice because it is so potent.
Sam Rivera runs the nation’s first overdose prevention clinic in Harlem, New York. The aim is to not stop people from using drugs, but to supervise them when they do by offering medical support and safety.
Rivera said that goal is harm reduction and preventing overdose deaths.
“We’ve had a number of overdoses today. It seems like a potential bad batch [of fentanyl],” said Rivera. “We’re there when the overdose happens, and we’re there immediately.”
Rivera added that not a single person has ever died at his clinic.
Studies show that similar programs in other countries have successfully reduced fatal overdoses and increased access to health services, according to a recent study published in the International Journal of Drug Policy.
Rivera said by giving people living with addiction a safe space to use drugs, it gets them into a supervised facility that can help them stay alive until they are ready to try to quit.
“Beautiful, hurting people are coming in with those drugs, to use them safely and stay alive,” said Rivera.
Other approaches include a clinic named Rock to Recovery In Nashville, Tennessee. They are using the power of music as therapy.
Phil Bogard, a former rock musician, is the program administrator at Rock to Recovery. He said he struggled with addiction and has been “clean and sober” for almost 14 years.
“We’ve got people playing keyboard parts, and I’m on a guitar. We’re going to write a chorus together that we can all sing along to. An hour and a half passes by and we lived in the moment,” said Bogard, who adds that music fosters a sense of belonging and community. “And hopefully we got some people to get on the other side of ‘I can’t, I won’t, I’m not able to.’”
Activists say there is no easy answer to stopping both the enduring opioid crisis and the growing fentanyl crisis, those who are struggling with an addiction and need more resources and help now.
“They’re going to use,” said Rivera. “I have people in that room right now who want to stop, they’re right there saying, ‘I want to stop.’ But at least now they’re talking about it.”
(NEW YORK) — As the nation continues to grapple with mass shootings in New York and California this past weekend, a new analysis by ABC News and ABC’s owned stations shows a startling rise in gun violence along interstate highways across the country over the last few years.
The analysis, which examined nearly 3,000 shootings that occurred on or near U.S. interstates from January 2018 through March 2022, found that interstate highway shootings across the country spiked alongside the overall surge in gun violence over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, with New Orleans, Chicago and Memphis seeing some of the biggest spikes.
Interstate highway shootings rose from 540 incidents in 2019 to 846 incidents in 2021 — in increase of 57% — according to the data, which was collected by the Gun Violence Archive, an independent research group.
In just the first three months of this year, at least 149 shooting incidents occurred along or near interstate highways, the data shows.
In all, the incidents resulted in 680 people killed and more than 1,600 people injured over the last four years and three months, according to the data.
The full report by ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas, “Highway Gunplay: An ABC News Investigation,” will stream on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis, Wednesday at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
The data collected by the Gun Violence Archive helps shed light on some of the nation’s most dangerous stretches of highway out of the more than 47,000 miles of interstates across the country.
According to the data, I-10 in the New Orleans area has been the single most violent stretch of interstate in terms of gun incidents between 2019 and 2021. It’s followed by I-94 in the Chicago area, I-240 in the Memphis area, I-35 in the Austin area and I-70 in the St. Louis area.
Courtney Bradford, a young man who was about to be married, was shot and killed late last year while riding as a passenger in a car on I-240 in Memphis. He and his fiancé had just bought a new home to share with their 5-year-old daughter.
“I’ve called him by mistake. It’s very hard,” Bradford’s fiancé, Latoya Henley, told ABC News’ Thomas about dealing with Bradford’s death seven months ago.
The shooting that took Bradford’s life was one of 121 interstate shootings Memphis Police responded to in 2021, according to data provided by the police department.
“What’s even more unsettling is the fact that they’re so reckless,” Bradford’s mother Tonja Rounds told ABC News. “You could be aiming at one particular individual — but you’re shooting on the expressway and people are driving by, so you could shoot anybody.”
“It’s very insane,” Henley said. “I get antsy when I’m on the expressway.”
Seven months after the shooting, Henley and Rounds say police don’t appear to be any closer to determining who took Bradford’s life. The shooting occurred at night, and surveillance cameras were unable to provide any details about the car that the shots came from.
“We just keep trusting and believing that someone is going to come forward,” Rounds said.
Memphis, New Orleans, Chicago and Detroit are among the cities that have been hit hardest by the surge in highway shootings over the last few years, with the number of shootings increasing even more as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the U.S.
Eight of the 10 stretches of interstates with the highest number of gun incidents between 2019 and 2021 are in those four cities, according to the Gun Violence Archive data. Shooting incidents on or near interstates in those cities alone killed at least 63 people and injured at least 284 others during that time, accounting for nearly 12% of all deaths and 23% of all injuries reported from interstate gun violence nationwide during those years.
I-10, which runs across the southern U.S. from Florida to California, had the highest number of interstate highway shootings during the pandemic period, including at least 79 incidents in Louisiana — many of them occurring around New Orleans.
“You’ve got what police chiefs are calling the pandemic impact on crime,” Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, told ABC News. “It cannot be underestimated.”
“Traffic stops have decreased, so now a small altercation — someone cuts someone off on the road — that can quickly escalate,” Wexler said. “And that altercation becomes a shooting, becomes a homicide.”
During the pandemic years, between 2020 and 2021, the Gun Violence Archive data showed at least 121 interstate shootings in the Chicago area, averaging out to one incident every six days. The group found 73 incidents in the New Orleans area, 58 incidents in the Detroit area, 57 incidents in the Memphis are and 38 incidents in the St. Louis area.
The spike in highway shootings during the pandemic mirrors a surge in overall gun violence.
According to data released this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gun homicides increased 35% across the country during the pandemic, to the highest level in 25 years.
Firearm murders increased most markedly among youths and young adults, with the number of victims age 10-24 rising by 40%. People of color experienced the highest increase, as the number of Black male shooting victims age 10-24 years — already 21 times higher than the number of white male victims of the same age — increased even further in 2020.
An analysis of data provided by the Houston Police Department by ABC13 showed that homicides along the city’s highways and streets doubled during the pandemic, driving a surge in the overall number of homicides in the city during the two pandemic years. Among those killed in Houston road rage incidents was 17-year-old David Castro, who was fatally shot last summer on I-10 while leaving an Astros baseball game, and Tyler Mitchell, who died earlier this month after being shot along the same interstate just before his 22nd birthday.
In California, the Gun Violence Archive identified more than 200 interstate highway shootings between January 2018 and March of 2022, with many of them occurring on I-5, I-80 and I-580. And additional shootings occurred on Southern California freeways that aren’t part of the interstate system; last year, the California Highway Patrol reported at least 80 incidents of cars being shot at while traveling on SoCal freeways in just the one-month span between late April and late May, with the majority of them occurring along the 91 Freeway that runs from east of the 15 Freeway west toward the 605 Freeway.
Law enforcement officials say the nature of highway shootings typically makes them more difficult to track and solve that other types of shootings.
“The evidence and the crime scene is moving, sometimes 70, 80, 90 miles an hour,” said Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly.
As a result, said Kelly, the Illinois State Police are adding patrols and increasing searches to identify people with illegal weapons in their cars. They’ve also added new cameras along interstates to try to better track suspects.
“We will use license plate readers, we will use our air operations, we will use our patrol officers that are out there, we will use canines, we will use all the tools at our disposal to be able to pursue the people that are responsible for this violence,” Kelly said.
In the Detroit area, where the Detroit Police Department says they’ve seen an average of five freeway shootings a month over the past three years, the city has teamed up with more than three dozen other law enforcement agencies to launch “Operation Brison,” a multi-city effort to crack down on freeway shootings after two-year-old Brison Christian was killed last year when someone opened fire on his family’s vehicle on I-17 in what the police say was a case of mistaken identity.
Two alleged gang members have been charged with murder in the case.
But in Memphis, Latoya Henley is still waiting for resolution to her fiancé’s murder.
“We don’t know what happened at all,” Henley told ABC News. “We don’t know who’s involved.”
“I don’t want anyone to ever feel what I feel,” she said. “I pray a lot, ’cause the one thing I don’t want to be is angry. Because that’s what I was at first — I was angry. I was confused. And I was in disbelief. And you know, some days, I’m still in disbelief.”
ABC News’ Jack Date, Luke Barr and Alexandra Myers contributed to this report, along with Ross Weidner of WLS in Chicago, Courtney Carpenter of KTRK in Houston and Lindsey Feingold of KGO in San Francisco.
Watch “Highway Gunplay: An ABC News Investigation” on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis, Wednesday at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Metallica is once again teaming up with Walmart for an exclusive run of colored vinyl.
The collection includes new wax variants of 1996’s Load, 1997’s Reload, 2003’s St. Anger and 2008’s Death Magnetic, as well as the 1998 covers compilation Garage Inc.
Each of the five titles will be available separately or altogether as part of a bundle. They’ll be available in Walmart stores and online beginning June 17. You can preorder your copies now via Walmart.com.
Metallica previously linked up with Walmart in 2020 for exclusive colored vinyl reissues of their first five albums, from 1983’s Kill ‘Em All to 1991’s Black Album, as well as their latest release, 2016’s Hardwired… to Self-Destruct.
Queen Elizabeth II‘s Platinum Jubilee celebration, which will mark her 70th year on the British throne, just got a lot more star-studded.
The lineup for the Platinum Party at the Palace, a massive concert set for June 4 in front of Buckingham Palace in London, has been revealed. Sir Elton John, Sir Rod Stewart, Duran Duran and Diana Ross are among the performers, as are, fittingly, Queen + Adam Lambert.
The bill also includes Alicia Keys, Andrea Bocelli, Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Also part of the lineup are several pop and rock artists who are well known in the U.K. but perhaps less familiar in the U.S., including George Ezra, Craig David, Elbow, Sam Ryder, Mabel, Sigala & Ella Eyre, Mica Paris, Celeste and Mimi Webb.
There are just 10,000 tickets available, which are being allocated on a first come, first served basis. Visit the BBC’s websitefor more information. It’s not clear yet if the BBC’s broadcast of the event will air in North America.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for MTV Entertainment
Selena Gomez once again teamed up with the Biden administration to highlight the importance of mental health. The Grammy nominee met with first lady Jill Biden, as well as Ambassador Susan Rice, to rally for positive change.
Selena was in Washington, D.C., to host the first Mental Health Youth Action Forum on Wednesday, which brought together 30 mental health youth activists to share their experiences and ideas on how to improve accessibility and bring resources to those in need.
USA Todayreports Biden opened up about her personal struggles with mental health before introducing Selena. “The darkness inside of us can feel heavy at times, but we can share the weight of it together,” the first lady said. “It takes courage to be honest about the struggles that you’ve faced and to tell your stories. And it takes courage to understand that your voice can make a difference, and to show your creativity and talents to all of the world.”
Selena used her time to change the dialogue on openly discussing mental health, saying that normalizing these conversations will help those who are struggling in silence.
“Bringing attention to mental health through media or just talking about your own journeys can help. It sets the example that it’s a topic that can and should be discussed freely and without shame,” she said in a speech that brought tears to her eyes.
She also rallied to increase resources to address the nation’s mental health needs, saying, “I want to ensure that everyone, no matter their age, their race, religion, sexual orientation, has access to services that support their mental health.”
The “Wolves” singer previously teamed up with the Biden administration in 2020, joining Vice President Kamala Harris for a virtual discussion on destigmatizing mental health.
Queen Elizabeth II‘s Platinum Jubilee celebration, which will mark her 70th year on the British throne, just got a lot more star-studded.
The lineup for the Platinum Party at the Palace, a massive concert set for June 4 in front of Buckingham Palace in London, has been revealed. Sir Elton John and Sir Rod Stewart are among the performers, as are, fittingly, Queen + Adam Lambert.
The bill also includes Duran Duran, Diana Ross, Elbow, Alicia Keys, Andrea Bocelli, Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Also part of the lineup are several pop artists who are well known in the U.K. but less familiar in the U.S., including Sam Ryder, Mabel, George Ezra, Craig David, Sigala & Ella Eyre, Mica Paris, Celeste and Mimi Webb.
There are just 10,000 tickets available, which are being allocated on a first come, first served basis. Visit the BBC’s website for more information. It’s not clear yet if the BBC’s broadcast of the event will air in North America.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden is invoking the Defense Production Act to address the widespread shortage of baby formula, the White House announced Wednesday evening.
The move will get ingredients to manufacturers to help speed up production, the administration said.
“The President is requiring suppliers to direct needed resources to infant formula manufacturers before any other customer who may have ordered that good,” the White House said in a statement. “Directing firms to prioritize and allocate the production of key infant formula inputs will help increase production and speed up in supply chains.”
The president has also directed the use of Department of Defense commercial aircraft to pick up infant formula overseas to get on U.S. shelves faster while U.S. manufacturers ramp up production, the White House said.
The ongoing baby formula crisis has triggered a public outcry from parents and lawmakers, as well as an investigation by the House Oversight Committee.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan are expected to return to American Idol, reports Deadline. The ABC series was renewed for another season. Although their return hasn’t formally been announced, ABC Entertainment President Craig Erwich said, “We’re looking forward to having that same chemistry next year.”
Kelly Clarkson opened up about the early days of remote learning and told People, “I was like, ‘Dear God, I hope my nanny doesn’t quit!'” Kelly super appreciates educators, saying teachers have “a crazy hard job.” She’s since teamed with Norwegian Cruise Line to give 100 teachers a much-needed vacation via its Giving Joy contest. Nominate those who are most deserving on the official website.
Harry Styles admits fans will see his “bum-bum” in his new film My Policeman — but assured nothing else will be shown on the big screen. He also told Howard Stern he had to “wear a gas mask” while getting tattoos airbrushed all over him, adding that they come into play for his steamier scenes. The movie’s due out this year.
Jennifer Lopez dropped the trailer for her Halftime documentary, which arrives on Netflix June 14. The movie covers the singer’s preparation for her Super Bowl halftime performance and the career wins that led to the moment. The doc will take a deep dive into Jennifer’s life, psyche and dreams for the second half of her career.
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — The 18-year-old suspect who allegedly gunned down 10 people in a mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday had, authorities say, an assault-style rifle, body armor, a tactical helmet — and a small camera.
The horror that followed became the latest mass shooting simultaneously broadcast online. Twitch, the Amazon-owned platform on which the video appeared, said it took down the broadcast after less than two minutes.
But that duration gave enough time for individuals to download and repost copies of the video, one of which was viewed more than 3 million times, after a link to the video on Facebook garnered more than 500 comments and 46,000 shares before its removal, the Washington Post reported.
Plus, a 180-page document believed to have been published by the alleged shooter that included a litany of bigoted views said the writer had seen hateful messages on 4chan and other sites known for the appearance of white supremacist content, raising the possibility that he had been radicalized online. An additional 589-page document believed to be tied to the alleged shooter included postings by the alleged shooter on Discord, a social media platform.
The suspected shooter is now facing murder charges to which he entered a not guilty plea.
The episode drew renewed criticism of tech platforms and urgent calls for scrutiny over the moderation of videos and messages posted online, which can quickly spread to a wide audience and possibly fuel copycat attacks. The uproar arrives at a moment of public reckoning over content moderation, as Tesla CEO Elon Musk has used his $44 billion bid for Twitter to voice his skepticism of platforms taking a broad role in removing posts.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday that social media companies must balance free speech with concerns over public safety. During the same show, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul criticized how hateful ideas spread on social media “like a virus” and called for accountability from the CEOs of social media companies.
Experts in online extremism told ABC News they hope the mass shooting on Saturday serves as a wake-up call to bolster the push for more rigorous moderation of online posts. But livestreams pose a particularly difficult task for those who police content on tech platforms, experts told ABC News, noting the challenge of monitoring and removing the posts in real time.
Further, online message boards that foment bigotry, such as 4chan, traffic in odious ideas that often stop short of violating the law, leaving the door open to such platforms with a more lax approach to monitoring content, Jared Holt, a resident fellow at Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, told ABC News.
The mass shooting in Buffalo, which saw 10 people killed — all of whom were Black — and three others injured, comes three years after a self-identified white supremacist livestreamed a mass shooting at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, which resulted in 51 people dead. Live video on Facebook of that massacre remained online for 17 minutes, far longer than the less than two minutes it took Twitch to take down the video from Buffalo on Saturday.
“It’s an improvement, but needless to say, obviously it’s not a perfect answer,” Holt told ABC News. “Moderating live content has proven to be a massive challenge to tech platforms.”
In general, tech platforms police content through both automated systems and manual decisions made by individuals, Alice Marwick, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who specializes in the study of social media, told ABC News. Livestreams pose such difficulty because they can evade the automated systems, forcing platforms to rely on human moderators who sometimes cannot handle the overwhelming volume of incoming content, she said.
“The size and scale of the number of livestreams that there are on a daily basis make it impossible to moderate them completely,” she said.
More than 8 million users broadcast live on Twitch each month, and the site features an average of more than 2.5 million hours of video every day, Twitch Global Head of Trust and Safety Angela Hession told ABC News in a statement.
“We’ve invested heavily in our sitewide safety operations and in the people and technologies who drive them, and will continue to do so,” she said.
Platforms could further limit livestream incidents like what happened in Buffalo by implementing a time-delay for live footage, like television stations do, Marwick and Holt said. The companies could also ensure that users must be verified before gaining the ability to livestream, as YouTube does.
But livestreaming will not be removed from the platforms altogether, Holt said, citing companies like Twitch that depend on livestreaming for their business. “The cat is out of the proverbial bag,” he said.
Even a brief livestream can end up reaching a large audience. As noted, in the case of the video of the shooting in Buffalo, a copy of the livestreamed video received millions of views after a link on Facebook helped drive traffic to it, the Washington Post reported.
A spokesperson for Meta, the parent company of Facebook, told ABC News that the company on Saturday quickly designated the event as a “violating terrorist attack,” which prompted an internal process to identify and remove the account of the identified suspect, as well as copies of his alleged document and any copy of or link to video of his alleged attack.
The move ensures that any copies of or links to the video, writing or other content that praises, supports or represents the suspect will be removed, the spokesperson added.
In a statement, Twitch told ABC News: “We are devastated to hear about the shooting that took place in Buffalo, New York. Our hearts go out to the community impacted by this tragedy. Twitch has a zero-tolerance policy against violence of any kind and works swiftly to respond to all incidents.”
“The user has been indefinitely suspended from our service, and we are taking all appropriate action, including monitoring for any accounts rebroadcasting this content,” the statement added.
Content monitors also face a challenge from message boards and other sites that feature white supremacist ideology and can radicalize users. Since such content is offensive and dangerous but oftentimes legal, the onus falls on platforms to take an aggressive approach to remove it, Holt told ABC News. Not all platforms bring the same level of rigor to the task, he added.
The anonymous imageboard website 4chan is known for the appearance of hateful content. The alleged shooter in Buffalo named 4chan as a site he had visited. The website has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment.
Hateful content can migrate from alternative platforms to more mainstream ones, allowing such messages to reach a wider audience before they are addressed, Holt said.
“There may be awful things on seedier internet platforms like 4chan,” he said. “The internet doesn’t exist as perfectly siloed platforms.”
The alleged shooter also posted messages online in a private group on Discord, a social media platform. It’s unclear who had access to the group. According to ABC News consultant and former Department of Homeland Security official John Cohen, Discord is a popular platform mostly with high school-aged teenagers and has been used to spread conspiracy theories.
“We extend our deepest sympathies to the victims and their families. Hate and violence have no place on Discord. We are doing everything we can to assist law enforcement in the investigation,” a spokesperson for Discord told ABC News in a statement.
Online radicalization takes place over a prolonged period, affording multiple opportunities for platforms to step in, said Marwick, the professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“When people do get radicalized online, it’s not something that happens in an instant,” she said. “Sometimes people like to think about this as a flash of lightning — that’s not how this works”
“It takes place over a period of time,” she adds. “There are possible points of intervention before it gets to this point.”
An HBO Max movie based on DC Comics characters The Wonder Twins has been shelved.
The Hollywood Reporter reports the plug has been pulled on the project, which was to get underway soon with RiverdaleleadKJ Apa and 1883 actress Isabel Mayon as titular twins Zan and Jayna.
As any fan of Super Friends could tell you, the siblings were shape-shifters. After declaring, “Wonder Twins powers, activate!” Zan could transform into any form of water, while Jayna could become any animal.
The trade says the decision might be due to Warner Bros. rebranding as Warner Bros. Discovery and its new CEO, David Zaslav, who is reorganizing the studio’s DC properties with an eye toward big-screen projects.
That said, a source tells the trade that the script, as written by its would-be director, Black Adam screenwriter Adam Sztykiel, was deemed to be “too niche” for a feature film.
