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California Man with Aryan Brotherhood Prison Gang Ties Pleads Guilty in Drug Case

SACRAMENTO — A man affiliated with the white supremacist Aryan Brotherhood prison gang pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to distribute heroin and methamphetamine inside and outside California's prisons, federal officials announced. Samuel Keeton, 41, of Menifee, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise and to conspiracy to...

For 1st Time in 4 Years, US Life Expectancy Rises — a Little

NEW YORK — Life expectancy in the United States is up for the first time in four years. The increase is small — just a month — but marks at least a temporary halt to a downward trend. The rise is due to lower death rates for cancer and drug...

Feds Allow Use of Opioid Funds to Stem Meth, Cocaine Surge

WASHINGTON — Alarmed by a deadly new twist in the nation's drug addiction crisis, the government will allow states to use federal money earmarked for the opioid epidemic to help growing numbers of people struggling with meth and cocaine. The little-noticed change is buried in a massive spending bill passed...

Flesh-Eating Bacteria Linked to Heroin Kills 7 in California

SAN DIEGO — A flesh-eating bacteria linked to the use of black tar heroin has killed at least seven people over the past two months in the San Diego area, prompting health authorities to alert law enforcement and other officials in California. Nine people who injected black tar heroin between...

Modesto Hells Angels VP, Secretary Indicted on Drug Charges

The federal government's investigation into the activities of the Modesto Hells Angels Motorcycle Club yielded new indictments Thursday in Fresno. Chapter vice president Michael Shafer, 31, of Modesto, was charged with conspiring to distribute marijuana, conspiring to distribute heroin, distribution of marijuana, and two counts of use of a communication...

Big Question in Opioid Suits: How to Divide Any Settlement

The roughly 2,000 state and local governments suing the drug industry over the deadly opioid crisis have yet to see any verdicts or reach any big national settlements but are already tussling with each other over how to divide any money they collect. The reason: Some of them want to...

Number of US Overdose Deaths Appears to Be Falling

NEW YORK — U.S. overdose deaths last year likely fell for the first time in nearly three decades, preliminary numbers suggest. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday posted data showing nearly 68,000 drug overdose deaths were reported last year. The number may go up as more investigations...

Ninth Circuit Court Upholds Keith Foster's Drug Convictions

In a ruling filed last week, the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the 2017 heroin and marijuana trafficking convictions of then-Fresno Deputy Police Chief Keith Foster. Foster's legal team made four claims in arguing his felony convictions should be overturned: — Insufficient evidence to convict. —...

5 States Announce New Suits Over Prescription Opioids

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Five state attorneys general announced lawsuits Thursday seeking to hold the drug industry responsible for an opioid addiction crisis that has become the biggest cause of accidental deaths across the country and in many states. The new filings in Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, West Virginia and Wisconsin mean...

Cocaine Deaths up in US, and Opioids Are a Big Part of It

NEW YORK — Cocaine deaths have been rising in the U.S., health officials said Thursday in their latest report on the nation's deadliest drug overdose epidemic. After several years of decline, overdose deaths involving cocaine began rising around 2012. And they jumped by more than a third between 2016 and...

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