Fentanyl found in cannabis, says Membertou Health Centre - Your Quad Counties

Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are still the single biggest driver of overdose deaths in the US. They were involved in around 38,000 of the roughly 70,000 deaths recorded in 2025, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Europe’s figures are of a different order. In 16 countries that reported data, fentanyl and its derivatives were linked to a total of around 210 drug-induced deaths in 2024, up from about 130 in 2023. Most of that rise may involve medicines rather than illicitly made fentanyl.

CommentaryGuest CommentaryFederico Varese16 October 2026clock8 Minute ReadOpioid threat: Italian Armed Forces and Carabinieri involved in the fight against organised crime and drug trafficking in San Pasquale. Image: NurPhoto SRL / Alamy StockItaly’s low fentanyl death toll reflects Europe’s distinct opioid market history, not mafia restraint – but synthetic opioids such as nitazenes are a growing threat. Italy has recorded very few deaths involving fentanyl. A September 2026 article in The Economist invokes The Godfather films to suggest that ‘the country’s mafias seem to have collaborated to keep fentanyl out of their territory,’ protecting their established markets from a substance that kills customers and attracts police attention. Such a hypothesis had already been put forward by Roberto Saviano in La Repubblica. While it is an intriguing theory, there is no evidence for it. To understand the absence of an American-style fentanyl crisis in Italy as well as in other parts of Europe, we need to look at the history of opioid markets, rather than assume that godfathers hailing from unnamed ‘mafias’ are out there to protect their fellow countrypeople.

CommentaryGuest CommentaryFederico Varese16 October 2026clock8 Minute ReadOpioid threat: Italian Armed Forces and Carabinieri involved in the fight against organised crime and drug trafficking in San Pasquale. Image: NurPhoto SRL / Alamy StockItaly’s low fentanyl death toll reflects Europe’s distinct opioid market history, not mafia restraint – but synthetic opioids such as nitazenes are a growing threat. Italy has recorded very few deaths involving fentanyl. A September 2026 article in The Economist invokes The Godfather films to suggest that ‘the country’s mafias seem to have collaborated to keep fentanyl out of their territory,’ protecting their established markets from a substance that kills customers and attracts police attention. Such a hypothesis had already been put forward by Roberto Saviano in La Repubblica. While it is an intriguing theory, there is no evidence for it. To understand the absence of an American-style fentanyl crisis in Italy as well as in other parts of Europe, we need to look at the history of opioid markets, rather than assume that godfathers hailing from unnamed ‘mafias’ are out there to protect their fellow countrypeople.

Bioengineer.org news storyFor people living with HIV, modern antiretroviral therapy can suppress the virus to levels below what standard laboratory tests can detect. Yet some patients on long-term treatment experience a curious phenomenon: a single test result showing a small, transient amount of virus in the blood, followed by an immediate return to undetectable levels. These events, known as viral blips, have puzzled clinicians and researchers for years, raising questions about whether they represent harmless statistical noise, brief bursts of viral production from hidden reservoirs, or early warnings of impending treatment failure. A new nationwide Swedish study, published in BMC Infectious Diseases, offers one of the most comprehensive answers to date. Drawing on the Swedish national InfCareHIV cohort, researchers analyzed data from 4,210 treatment-naïve adults who began antiretroviral therapy from 1 January 2007 onward, with follow-up data extracted through 30 September 2020. The median observation time was 5.5 years, with some individuals followed for as long as 13.7 years.

European Medical Journal news storyPeople living with HIV may experience subtle changes in heart muscle function even when conventional measures of cardiac performance remain normal, according to findings from a systematic review and meta-analysis. Researchers identified significantly impaired global longitudinal strain (GLS) among people with HIV compared with HIV-uninfected individuals, despite preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in both groups. The findings suggest that speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE) could provide additional information about early myocardial dysfunction in this population. Read the full news story here.