fentanyl

Overdose Lifeline distributed more than 170,000 test strips in 2023. Advocates said they are more interested in saving lives than "getting held up on those gray areas" – which is where the legality of the test strip exists in Indiana code.

The presence of xylazine didn’t have the same criminal liability that substances like fentanyl had because it wasn’t considered a controlled substance. The new law closed, what some lawmakers called, a "loophole."

A bill to decriminalize fentanyl test strips is likely dead after it didn't receive a committee hearing in the Senate.

HB 1053 removes the parts of Indiana law that classifies tools for “testing the strength, effectiveness, or purity of a controlled substance” as controlled substance paraphernalia.

Overdose deaths among teenagers have skyrocketed — largely due to fentanyl.

Since last June, almost 90 school districts across the state have participated in a program that teaches school staff how to identify drug overdoses and administer naloxone.

Eric Montgomery was sentenced to 36 years in connection with the death of IU senior Avery McMillan.

A recent study in Indianapolis suggested that the increase in overdoses may be linked to people seeking alternatives due to the loss of their stable supply, without knowing their tolerance to other opioids that have varying potency.

Sheyenne struggled with heroin and meth for nine years, but in 2021, an unfamiliar drug called xylazine contributed to the overdose that took her life. 

Officers found a 20-year-old student from Valparaiso unresponsive in the home of 33-year-old Eric Montgomery on the morning of Aug. 17.