FENTANYL

Local mothers who lost their children to fentanyl were gut-wrenched last week to hear a batch of drugs laced with fentanyl killed nine people in Austin and caused about 75 to needed Narcan rescue. This tragedy has strengthened their resolve to educate their community and prevent more deaths.

A man was arrested in connection with a spike of opioid overdoses that caused nine deaths in Austin this week.

A bad batch of drugs has led to an opioid overdose outbreak in Austin. Its proximity to San Antonio and surrounding areas has local officials on high alert.

Texas officials are investigating at least nine recent deaths involving an unusual spike of opioid overdoses in Austin.

Rise Inspire Academy senior Zachary Combs and his classmates organized a festival on Saturday dedicated to educating people on the dangers of fentanyl.

Mark Elliot Stool, 67, pleaded guilty to three counts of distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death and one count of distribution of a controlled substance resulting in serious bodily injury, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Elberto Roy Trevino Jr., 50, conspired with others to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl in July 2022, a United States Attorney’s Office media release said.

Texas is one of a few states where fentanyl strips are still illegal, considered drug paraphernalia. Federal lawmakers are trying to change that. Senate Bill 2569 is continuing to gain bipartisan support, an update applauded by local families who lost loved ones to fentanyl.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is throwing allegations at his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and even raising the prospect of removing him from office.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has announced economic sanctions against 15 people and two companies that the United States says are linked to a Mexican drug cartel.

Election officials around the country are stocking up on the overdose reversal medication naloxone after a series of suspicious mailings — some containing traces of fentanyl — were sent to vote centers or government buildings in six states.

Threatening letters sent to local election offices in at least five states, some including fentanyl, are the latest concern for local election workers around the country.

The Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on 13 members of Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa cartel and four Mexico-based firms accused of trafficking fentanyl into the United States.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced a new government-wide strategy that will target not only fentanyl but precursor materials used to make the synthetic opioid.

Hundreds of locals suffering from substance use disorder are recovering through the Center for Health Care Services.

The first Soles Walking 4 Souls Fentanyl Awareness Walk happened on Saturday. Community members and leaders came together to raise awareness and push education efforts on fentanyl poisoning.

The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office arrested a 19-year-old driver after deputies found 40,000 pills that are believed to contain fentanyl in his car.

The walk is happening in Brooks at The Greenline from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday. There will be music, food trucks and a one-mile walk.

It’s the first of its kind in San Antonio — a walk to remember those lost to fentanyl poisoning and a rally to stop it from happening. KSAT checked in with two leading recovery experts speaking Saturday, intending to make big change with education and breaking stigma.

The 1-mile walk ends with a candlelight vigil honoring and celebrating the lives lost to fentanyl poisoning and to inspire action against its misuse.

The Hays County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of a 15-year-old student as a possible overdose, according to the superintendent of the Hays Consolidated Independent School District.

The nonprofit organization, This Must Be the Place, will be handing out Naloxone at ACL as a way to educate people about the dangers of Fentanyl and to get the life-saving opioid reversal medicine in more hands.

The Northside Independent School District hosted a community forum on Wednesday to talk to families about vaping and fentanyl.

The Biden administration is taking aim at the fentanyl trafficking threat, announcing a series of indictments and sanctions against Chinese companies and executives blamed for importing the chemicals used to make the deadly drug.

About 150 people from families who have lost a loved one to fentanyl poisoning have gathered at the headquarters of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as the U.S. faces its deadliest overdose crisis.

An Eagle Pass man was arrested during a traffic stop on I-10 in Guadalupe County after authorities found over $1.2 million worth of Fentanyl stashed in his pickup truck.

On Thursday, a San Antonio family finally got the relief they’d been seeking for the last three years.

Patrick James Hall, 29, was sentenced to 30 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release for the October 2020 death of Isabella Render.

The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday unveiled its new policy aimed at protecting people in Bexar County from fentanyl.

New laws surrounding school safety, crime, gender, voting and guns in Texas will go into effect on Sept. 1.

There are countless heartbroken families who have lost loved ones due to fentanyl overdoses. Now, some of those families have a voice through a new documentary.

Mexico has closed 23 pharmacies at Caribbean coast resorts, six months after a research report warned that drug stores in Mexico were offering foreigners pills they passed off as Oxycodone, Percocet, and Adderall.

It's a tough conversation to have, but experts and parents who have lost children say it's necessary. They say the key to that talk is honesty and openness.

Two men have been sentenced in connection with a fentanyl distribution organization that caused overdoses in the Austin area, federal authorities said.

KSAT aired a special Wednesday, “Fighting Fentanyl: It’s Everyone’s Problem.” It was immediately followed by a town hall event where anchor Stephania Jimenez spoke with a child psychiatrist, a high school senior, and a school district security director about the dangerous synthetic opioid and how parents can warn their children about it.

Texas lawmakers and Gov. Greg Abbott passed more than 1,100 bills during the 88th Legislature, including laws that surround education, school safety, transportation, voting and crime.

A growing number of states are decriminalizing fentanyl testing strips, seeking to protect people who use drugs from unwitting exposure to the highly potent synthetic opioid ravaging the U.S. with overdose deaths.

A Bexar County mother hopes sharing the story about her son’s overdose death will help save someone’s life this holiday weekend.

Abbott will have until June 18 to sign or veto bills. If signed, SB 629 will become law immediately.

You’ve likely heard Narcan can save lives. KSAT Explains how it works, where it comes from, and what happens after someone is given the medication.

There’s a life-saving medication that quickly reverses an opioid overdose, and right now it’s available to anyone for free.

There is help for people suffering from opioid use disorder.

The United States has sanctioned a son of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, three members of the Sinaloa cartel and two Mexican-based firms, alleging they trafficked fentanyl and other drugs into the U.S. Tuesday's sanctions came the day Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was talking with President Joe Biden about immigration and the fentanyl crisis.

An 18-year-old man was arrested in the death of a Hays CISD high school student who overdosed on fentanyl last month, according to the Hays County Sheriff’s Office.

Hope is the one thing no one can live without, and that’s precisely what recovery homes are trying to provide for people battling addiction issues.

Texas Department of Public Safety special agents seized over 507,000 lethal doses of fentanyl Thursday, Gov. Greg Abbott’s office said.

California lawmakers have authored more than 30 bills in the Legislature this year to address fentanyl.

Over the course of a year, the U.S. Treasury Department has used the hammer of its sanctions powers to impose wide-ranging financial restrictions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, turning Russia into the most sanctioned country in the world.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar joined Leading SA to discuss recent crime trends around our area, fighting fentanyl, school safety initiatives, and the top priorities he’s implementing to crack down on crime in the county.

There’s finally good news in the fight against fentanyl. Researchers in Houston are developing a powerful weapon against the synthetic opioid — a vaccine that stops fentanyl from killing people.

A San Antonio-based nonprofit is among a group of organizations in Texas speaking up to help legalize fentanyl test strips.

The Texas Department of Public Safety seized over 3.1 million lethal doses of fentanyl in a South Texas city Monday, according to officials.

Texas lawmakers want tougher criminal penalties for possession of delta-8 and fentanyl. But that would mean much more work for the crime labs handling most of the drug testing for the state’s 254 counties.

A life-saving drug that stops people from overdosing on fentanyl or other opioids is available to you for free.

The bill would take fentanyl test strips off the state’s “drug paraphernalia” list, meaning it would no longer be a crime to carry them.

The Bexar County Sheriff’s Department held its first fentanyl awareness presentation at Morgan’s Wonderland Camp as part of its “one pill can kill” campaign.

Don’t wait — that’s the message a local judge and agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration have for parents when it comes to teaching their kids about the dangers of fentanyl.

New Braunfels police have arrested eight people as part of a street crimes operation bust, which also resulted in the seizure of approximately 6500 fentanyl-laced pills and additional drugs, cash and weapons.

Narcan is a powerful tool in the fight against fentanyl, and a local treatment center in San Antonio is showing people how to administer it to help save lives.

Texas is attempting to address the fentanyl crisis gripping schools by having staff learn how to administer lifesaving medication.

A San Antonio man has pleaded guilty to giving a woman fentanyl and leaving her alone in a hotel room, where she overdosed and died, according to federal authorities.

Xylazine is a tranquilizer medication for large animals like horses, cattle or even elephants. Yet it made it's way into illegal drugs on streets across America.

According to Texas Health and Human Services, there were 1,672 fentanyl-related overdoses in 2021.

Only three milligrams of fentanyl is enough to kill an average adult male. The potent synthetic opioid is having a significant impact on how police in Pearsall do their jobs.

It’s a crisis that a local school district has seen up close. The Hays Consolidated Independent School District confirmed at least four of its students have died after overdosing on fentanyl since last summer.

Mark Fahlsing says he is trying to focus on all the good things his daughter did for her community through volunteer work and teaching kids. He also wants parents to warn kids and about fentanyl.

A San Antonio man who said a hospital failed to sedate him during an outpatient procedure last fall went as far as to get an independent drug screening to prove the powerful drugs were not in his system.

From fentanyl to Texas gun laws, there was a lot that needed explaining this year

San Antonio Area law enforcement cadets are being trained on how to take illicit drugs off the streets without coming in contact with them and becoming ill, things like fentanyl and carfentanyl are among the deadliest and most popular on the streets.

Bluebonnet Trails Community Services partners with school districts in rural areas to provide counseling and support to students and families facing addiction.

The CDC says the most recent cases of fentanyl-related harm, overdose, and death in the U.S. are linked to illegally made fentanyl.

A state lawmaker who introduced a bill to make fentanyl test strips legal to save lives says the issue should be revisited during the upcoming legislative session.

Danica Kaprosy was found lying face down, unresponsive, on her bed last July. Her family blames her death on a fentanyl-laced pill.

A Texas Department of Public Safety tooper was hospitalized after being exposed to fentanyl during a vehicle search in Bexar County, state officials reported Tuesday.

While treatment experts say education and prevention is key to saving lives. Governor Greg Abbott declares criminal organizations in Mexico as terrorists in a fight against fentanyl deaths.

Abbott directed the Department of Public Safety to boost efforts to collect intelligence on cartels and investigate gangs in Texas that support drug and human smuggling.

The small town of Floresville is seeing a rise in fentanyl deaths as five overdoses this year have resulted in three deaths.

Pills that can kill -- two suspected distributors have been arrested in charged in San Marcos. Hays County authorities now warn communities in the area to be vigilant of counterfeit Percocet pills.

San Marcos police arrested a 20-year-old man accused of supplying fentanyl pills in the community after finding hundreds of them during a search of a residence.

Another Hays Consolidated Independent School District student death has been attributed to fentanyl.

Although the Selma Police Department is still awaiting the toxicology results from the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office, a mother is warning other parents as she suspects her 17-year-old daughter died of a fentanyl overdose.

At first glance, the pills look like candy. However, inside is a substance 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin.

Two females are dead and one male is hospitalized after police found them Sunday in an apartment in Del Rio where cocaine and traces of fentanyl were found.

At least three Hays Consolidated Independent School District students have died in just one month due to suspected fentanyl overdoses.

A small, rural county just west of Florida’s capital is stunned by an unheard-of spike in deadly drug overdoses believed to be caused by fentanyl mixed with other illegal drugs.

Tennessee authorities are warning the public after folded dollar bills found in public places contained fentanyl.

Overdose deaths in the U.S. have officially hit the highest record ever, according to new data released by the CDC. DEA agents report a main culprit is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is dangerously addictive and deadly. That trend is unfortunately tracking in San Antonio too.

Los Angeles police say three men were found dead of suspected drug overdoses involving fentanyl.

Community activists in South Florida sprang into action after West Point cadets on spring break were sickened by fentanyl-laced cocaine at a house party.

Alyssa Pastrana was 21 years old when she died of an accidental fentanyl overdose at her home in Abilene.

Thirteen people were arrested this week on charges of distributing fentanyl in the Austin area.

Bexar County deputies and DEA agents uncovered a fentanyl operation at a Best Western hotel in the Northwest Side of San Antonio, according to Sheriff Javier Salazar.

A San Antonio was charged and criminally indicted for distributing a controlled substance containing fentanyl, which ended in a fatal overdose of another person last October.