Rachel Rhoden always knew she wanted to help people. After five years working in probation, the recovery court coordinator job in the First Judicial District came open, and she jumped at the opportunity. It's clear she's passionate about the changes she sees in people working the program. "These last two years have been the absolute best. It's just indescribable, taking someone along the steps and walking with them, getting their license back, gaining custody, or visitation even, of their children. It's very fulfilling." https://www.facebook.com/TNMentalHealthSubstanceAbuseServices/videos/701502496919368/?v=701502496919368

Two people will serve prison time for giving fentanyl, a potent painkiller, to a Bristol, Tennessee, woman who overdosed and died in 2017. Mario Ambrosio Lewis, 34, of Atlanta, Georgia, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Greeneville and will serve 20 years in federal prison. Lewis previously pleaded guilty to distributing fentanyl to Calvin Richard Campbell, 39, who admitted to Bristol police that he provided the drug to his niece. Campbell, who is currently serving a 15-year-prison sentence on a second-degree murder charge in Sullivan County, identified Lewis as his heroin supplier and source of the fentanyl, which resulted in the April 23, 2017, death of Andrea Gail Rodefer, 3

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- On Tuesday night, Louisville Metro Council passed a new budget that leaves some city services with little or no funding. One of those organizations is Centerstone. It's taking a major hit, and while it isn't closing entirely, one of its programs will. The Living Room, a mental health and addiction program in downtown Louisville, has no money to operate for the next year. Mike Kolb, co-president of CLOUT, said he is saddened that the council, "chose a budget that really emphasized some non-critical services instead of the lives of humans." The Living Room has been open for over a year and is fully funded from the city with about $1 million. It focuses on keeping drug

David Every Senior, an Army veteran, hadn't been sober for years. "I just hit bottom. I had nothing. No bank account. No family support," he said. Crack cocaine was his drug. For Mikey Kline, there wasn't just one. "I thought throughout the years that I was quitting things but all I was doing was replacing one drug for another drug," Kline said. He started using at age 14. He was 85 pounds lighter when on meth. "Menace. I guess I was a menace," he said. "I was worth nothing to life. Now I have something to contribute." But now, they're graduates of a program in Judge Chuck Cerny's court. "Oh, I love it. I love it. It saved my life. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about that. It saved my life,"

Fox 13 Memphis’ Kirstin Garriss sat down with Turning Point ahead of our discussion about the opioid crisis and solutions for the future. We examine this year’s opioid overdose numbers compared to last. Check out the story here. https://www.facebook.com/addictioncampuses/videos/870016070028116/UzpfSTE2MTM2ODU2Mjk6MTAyMTczODk2MzI1MjU0NjA/?__tn__=-R

The Tennessee Medical Association says a new report shows a 13.3% decrease in opioid prescriptions in the state beween 2017 and 2018. Figures from IQVIA, which uses prescription information to measure market and product demand, also shows Tennessee has seen a 32.3% drop in prescriptions for opioids since 2013. The TMA says the data shows Tennessee did a little better than the national average in curbing opioid prescriptions during a recent 12-month period, and is on par with other states for a five-year downward trend. TMA officials believe educating doctors and patients of addiction problems related to opioids has helped lower the number of prescriptions, as has Tennessee’s Controlled Subst

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A nonprofit in Memphis is starting a syringe service program in the next few weeks. The program will allow drug users to turn in used needles in exchange for clean ones. Data from the Shelby County Health Department shows that from the beginning of 2019 to May 25, 96 people died from overdoses. Ron Bobal decided to form a nonprofit after his son died from an overdose on Christmas three years ago. The nonprofit is called “Beteor Way” and focuses on raising awareness about the opioid crisis. The name comes from his 29-year-old son Ronnie who used “Beteor” as his graffiti artist name. “As a parent when you suffer loss, you have all these emotions. You have this negative energy

A 24-year-old man was arrested earlier this month after a grand jury indicted him on second-degree murder charges connected to a fatal overdose. Eric L. Williams Jr. sold methamphetamine to a person on May 6, Chattanooga police narcotics investigators allege. The person died that same day, and the Hamilton County Medical Examiner's Office later confirmed the cause of death to be methamphetamine overdose. That incident is not connected to the four fatal overdoses that took place between June 10 and 11, police spokeswoman Elisa Myzal confirmed. When officers arrested Williams on June 7, they found other drugs in his possession. Williams is charged with possession of heroin for resale, simple p

Between 2007-2014, Knoxville providers prescribed 916,513 more Opana Extended Release tablets than in all of New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago put together — cities with a combined population 82 times larger than Knoxville. In 2015, Tennessee's rate of prescriptions for Opana ER and its generic equivalent were the nation's highest, nearly double that of the second-highest state, North Carolina. Those are only two facts the state of Tennessee cites in its lawsuit against Opana maker Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., unsealed June 7, to make the claim that Endo 'is substantially responsible for the opioid epidemic in Tennessee' — with East Tennessee hit especially hard. And to reach those levels

Sales reps pushing painkiller Opana looked other way amid signs of fraud and drug dealing, AG says The line at Dr. Abdelrahman Mohamed’s pain clinic snaked down the hall, out the door and sometimes into the parking lot, full of patients with cash in fists. Federal agents knew Mohamed, the owner of Hamblen Neuroscience Center in Morristown, as the “drive-through doctor” who signed an average of 60 prewritten prescriptions for pain pills per day. Sales reps for Endo Pharmaceuticals knew him as a Grade A customer and saw nothing wrong. When suspicious local pharmacists stopped filling the prescriptions, Mohamed’s Endo rep stepped in to help. “This is my top writer,” the rep wrote in an email. “

"If we all work together, each and every single day, to do our best to give hope to those who are feeling hopeless, I believe we can turn this thing around. Phillip Martin brings a wonderful energy and optimism to his role as coordinator for Roane County's drug court. https://www.facebook.com/TNMentalHealthSubstanceAbuseServices/videos/345182649473979/?v=345182649473979​

KNOXVILLE — A lawsuit by Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery says Endo Pharmaceuticals sales representatives for years ignored warning signs of drug dealing at pill mills across the state. The Knoxville News Sentinel reports Slatery says suspicious pharmacists began refusing to fill prescriptions and Endo sales reps stepped in to find willing pharmacies. The lawsuit made public this month says Endo tracked sales in real time and knew their so-called "abuse-resistant" opioid was popular with addicts. Slatery says company executives blamed the sales strategy on a system that graded doctors on prescription numbers. One A-grade doctor prescribed an estimated 604,000 pills over seven years

DICKSON, Tenn. (WTVF) — The state plans to use increased funds in the new budget next month to expand recovery court programs across Tennessee. There are 78 recovery courts in Tennessee, majority of which are fully funded by the state. Of the recovery courts, more than half deal with people battling addiction to drugs like opioids. The $1.7 million increase in the budget will mostly expand capacity and add additional courts. The state estimates it would increase capacity by about 20%. Currently, there are more than 2,300 active participants in recovery court programs. The 23rd Judicial District Drug Court program has seen more than 200 successful graduates since it began in 2000. Director Do

The line at Dr. Abdelrahman Mohamed's pain clinic snaked down the hall, out the door and sometimes into the parking lot, full of patients with cash in fists. Federal agents knew Mohamed, the owner of Hamblen Neuroscience Center in Morristown, as the "drive-through doctor" who signed an average of 60 prewritten prescriptions for pain pills per day. Sales reps for Endo Pharmaceuticals knew him as a Grade A customer and saw nothing wrong. When suspicious local pharmacists stopped filling the prescriptions, Mohamed's Endo rep stepped in to help. "This is my top writer," the rep wrote in an email. "He is having a hard time getting Opana for his current patients and now switching them over to othe

A national drug epidemic is hitting closer and closer to home. Chattanooga Police Department Assistant Chief Zac McCullough says it's the worst he has seen. In just one recent 24 hour period, four people died from an overdose in Chattanooga. McCullough says that makes five this month. It's still not clear what kind of drug caused four recent overdose deaths, but police say it was an opioid-based drug and is being distributed in pill, powder and rock form. McCullough says we are on track to seeing a 50 percent increase in drug overdoses compared to last year. As of two weeks ago, Chattanooga police used 109 doses of Narcan to treat overdoses. But so far in 2019, there have been 33 drug ove

A spike in recent fatal overdoses could be tied to fentanyl-laced drugs in Davidson County, public safety officials have warned Between May 30 and June 10, the Davidson County Medical Examiner's office has investigated at least 10 deaths believed to be fatal drug overdoses, according to Metro Public Health. Of those deaths, half have been associated with an unknown white or brown powder . "Tox screens are pending, but we know drug dealers are mixing heroin and cocaine with cheaper and deadly fentanyl," the Metro Nashville Police Department said in a Twitter post. In 2018, the medical examiner's office reported 344 drug-related overdoses in the county, or just less than one per day. Since May

As Tennessee's opioid-addiction rate skyrocketed, Endo Pharmaceuticals executives cheered their rising sales figures. Endo, the maker of prescription painkiller Opana, sold nearly a million more pills in Knoxville from 2007 to 2014 than in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago combined. "Something special occurred recently," the district sales manager for East Tennessee wrote in a July 2011 email. "An all-time record again this week ... which has become just-another-week expectation for this team. ... Many people thought this day would never come and (we) have delivered the goods!" Endo pushed its flagship product on Tennesseans by preaching a public gospel of risk-free relief from sufferin

All4Knox is a joint effort of Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs and Mayor Madeline Rogero with facilitation and coordination support from Metro Drug Coalition, Charme Allen, District Attorney General - Knoxville, TN and Knox County Health Department. Our hope is to bring together our governments, businesses, nonprofit organizations, faith-based communities and many others in a coordinated fashion to address the substance misuse epidemic. To learn more and register, visit: All4Knox.org. https://www.facebook.com/MetroDrug/photos/a.121411331208498/2695523790463893/?type=3&theater

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) – Parts of West Tennessee have seen a recent uptick in drug-related overdoses and authorities warned that the incidents might be linked to a batch of extremely dangerous drugs. According to WTVC NewsChannel 9, Chattanooga police and the mayor reported that four people have died of suspected overdoses in just over 24 hours as a result. Joshua Shaffer, a sergeant with Knoxville Police Department and supervisor of the Drug Related Death Task Force, said he has received calls from the local agencies that experienced the upticks. Metro Nashville police reported that there have been 21 overdoses since May 31 and Chattanooga police reported four overdoses in a timeframe of 2

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A nonprofit in Memphis is starting a syringe service program in the next few weeks. The program will allow drug users to turn in used needles in exchange for clean ones. Data from the Shelby County Health Department shows that from the beginning of 2019 to May 25, 96 people died from overdoses. Ron Bobal decided to form a nonprofit after his son died from an overdose on Christmas three years ago. The nonprofit is called “Beteor Way” and focuses on raising awareness about the opioid crisis. The name comes from his 29-year-old son Ronnie who used “Beteor” as his graffiti artist name. “As a parent when you suffer loss, you have all these emotions. You have this negative energy