A federal court has put a temporary hold on the government's order for Juul to stop selling its electronic cigarettes.

Juul filed the emergency motion so it can appeal the sales ban from the Food and Drug Administration. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington granted the request later Friday. A day earlier, the FDA said Juul must stop selling its vaping device and its cartridges. The agency said Juul didn't give it enough information to evaluate the potential health risks of its e-cigarettes.

In its court filing, the company disagreed, saying it provided enough.

To stay on the market, companies must show that their e-cigarettes benefit public health. In practice, that means proving that adult smokers who use them are likely to quit or reduce their smoking, while teens are unlikely to get hooked on them.

President Joe Biden is pardoning all prior federal offenses of simple possession of marijuana.

In an announcement Thursday, Biden said, "No one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana."

The president said he'd instructed Attorney General Merrick Garland to develop an administration process so certificates of pardons go out to eligible individuals.

Biden said thousands of people would be impacted by the decision. He noted that many of those people had been denied employment, housing, or educational opportunities as a result of their convictions.

Biden is also asking governors to also use their pardoning powers for marijuana convictions at the state level.

In addition, the president has ordered the attorney general and the secretary of Health and Human Services to review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.

It's currently classified as a Schedule I drug. It's in the same category as heroin and LSD.

"Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana," Biden stated. "It’s time that we right these wrongs."

JOHNSON, Vt. — It's hard for me to express the amount of admiration I have for Dawn and Greg Tatro.

After losing their daughter to an overdose, Dawn and Greg Tatro set out to not only help people in recovery but also change how it's done.

The organization, Jenna's Promise, is named in honor of their daughter.

"One just said to me again tonight, he goes, 'I used to come to Johnson (Vermont) for drugs.' Now, he goes, 'I come to Johnson for recovery.' He goes, 'It's pretty awesome," Dawn said.

The Tatros' dreams of expanding how they help people have expanded over the course of a year. They now have a café that employs their residents and a health center.

"Once you get that veil of addiction off their, off their, face and you see the real person come out, it's incredible," said Greg.

The best part they say is how the town has embraced its residents. By going to the cafe, the people are actively participating in their recovery. It's a true, "It takes a village" mentality, playing out in real-time.

"It's cleaning the town up," said Dawn. "It's helping people and, uh, and it's creating this community."

Will Eberle is the executive director of the Vermont Association of Mental Health and Recovery.

"Unfortunately, we're still tracking at a very high rate of overdose deaths in Vermont. Currently, we have, according to our latest statistics, 151 overdose fatalities in Vermont through August of this year, and around 80% of those have included fentanyl," Eberle said.

There's no national data out yet for 2022, but with the prevalence of fentanyl across the nation, experts like Eberle are expecting it to be another year of tragically high numbers nationwide.

However, just like Dawn and Greg have seen, Will says the good news is that he's seeing less stigma as communities step up.

"Over time, it's starting to become sort of the community's business to work on these things more than the recovery sectors business, which is very heartening to see," he said.

The Tatros and Eberle believe the only way to completely flip the script on addiction and overdose deaths is for everyone to realize they have a role and to invest in the people and the places impacted.

They're hoping next year, even more communities see the value in the people working to make their lives better.

"It seems so simple, but to believe in someone, it's sometimes really what they need," said Dawn.

Burglars may have gotten more than they bargained for when they targeted a home in Wisconsin last week.

The two men snatched thousands of dollars worth of tools from the house in Milwaukee. They apparently also unwittingly grabbed a security camera that continued to transmit from their kitchen table.

The security camera captured the moment two thieves early last Monday stole that camera along with tools from a home being rehabbed. The real estate broker saw the whole thing.

"Somebody picked up the camera and said what is this? And then they bagged it, not knowing that it's still active," said Realtor Erica Winship, of Premier Point Realty.

Because the house was vacant, after the burglars kicked the front door open here they spent some time inside. But it's what happened later that could lead to their arrest.

"They took around $8,000 in tools. They also took a camera, which was hidden, which they did not know would operate pretty much anywhere, so it's operating on their dining table right now. We can see everything," Winship said.

She shared a video recorded Monday, a week after the burglary, still in the home of the burglar.

"We're seeing people doing drugs. We're seeing people talk about how they sold the stuff, where the money went," she added.

Winship said she can only assume they don't realize the camera is still transmitting.

"They may or may not, but I don't think they really care. It's really disheartening when someone works hard to rev up a house to make sure it's occupiable and lovely for someone to live and someone just comes through and destroys that," Winship said.

The battery-operated camera uses the cellular network, and as of Monday night, was still transmitting nearly eight days after it was stolen.

Milwaukee police told sister station WISN they're continuing to investigate but have made no arrests.

At age 14, Alexander Neville was still very much a curious kid. He was a Boy Scout who enjoyed getting outdoors and camping. He played with Legos and liked to skateboard. He slept with a stuffed Iron Man figure and still snuggled with a teddy bear he'd had since he was much younger.

But about a year and a half ago, the middle schooler confessed to his parents about a very adult problem: He was experimenting with oxycodone, a prescription painkiller.

He had no idea that the pills he was taking were actually prescription knockoffs laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. Just a few milligrams of fentanyl can be a fatal dose.

One morning in June 2020, his mother, Amy, found him dead in his bedroom.

"I went to his room, and he was blue, just laying on his beanbag chair. Just like he had gone to bed, you know, just like he had fallen asleep there," she said.

Drug deaths more than double

Though still rare, drug deaths among children ages 10 to 14 more than tripled from 2019 to 2020, according to an analysis done for CNN by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Unintentional drug overdoses led to 200,000 years of lost life for U.S. preteens and teens who died between 2015 and 2019, a January study found. And experts suspect that the problem has gotten worse during the pandemic, research shows.

The trend among adolescents follows a wider one.

Annual drug overdose deaths have reached another record high in the United States, with an estimated 104,288 in the 12-month period ending September 2021, according to provisional data published Wednesday by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

That's double the number from six years prior; there were an estimated 52,000 drug overdose deaths annually in September 2015.

The fentanyl factor

Alexander Neville had gone to his parents to ask them for help just two days before he died. He told them he had started on the pills, in large part, because he was curious.

"He said, 'I got to tell you something. I wanted to experiment with oxy -- oxycodone. I looked up how much to take for my size, so I wouldn't get addicted. But it really has got a hold on me. And I don't know why,' " his mother said.

His parents immediately made calls to get him into treatment.

"He really wanted to stop completely," Alexander's father, Aaron, recalled.

Amy remembered, "He wanted to be done. He's like, 'I'm done. I thought this stuff was going to be fun, but it's not.' "

But Alexander took that one last pill, unaware it was actually a deadly fake.

Tests later showed that the pill had enough fentanyl in it to kill at least four people, according to a toxicology report that his parents obtained.

Fentanyl is a drug intended to help people like cancer patients manage severe pain. It's 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. But most overdose deaths aren't from using it legitimately; rather, they are linked to fentanyl made illegally. Four out of every 10 fake pills with fentanyl contain a potentially deadly dose, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Since 2013, a rise in opioid deaths involved illicitly made fentanyl, according to the CDC. The agency says dealers combine it with counterfeit prescription pills, cocaine and heroin.

During the pandemic, the spike in deaths has increased significantly. From May 2020 through April 2021, more than 100,000 people of all ages died from drug overdoses in the US, according to the CDC. That's a record -- a near-30% rise from a year earlier and a near doubling over the past five years. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl accounted for the bulk of those deaths -- around 64,000.

"We're dealing with a different drug threat. Fentanyl has changed the game," DEA Special Agent Robert Murphy said. "I've been in law enforcement my entire adult life -- so it's 31 years now. And I've never seen a threat of the drug threat like the one we're dealing with now. It's frightening."

Social media makes drug deals easy

Social media may also contribute to the problem. Drug dealers no longer have to stand on streetcorners. They can now connect with kids online through platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube, Murphy said.

Alexander's parents believe that he got his fake pills through Snapchat. Another parent in the area got in touch to tell them that her son died two weeks after Alexander did, and she had screengrabs of a conversation believed to be with a drug dealer through Snapchat. There's still an investigation underway.

"The fentanyl epidemic has had a devastating effect on the lives of too many Americans, and our hearts go out to the families who have suffered unimaginable losses," a Snap spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.

"We share their outrage over how drug dealers have abused online platforms, including Snapchat, and are working tirelessly to eradicate them from our platform. We use tools to proactively detect drug-dealing activity and shut down dealers. To help inform our ongoing strategy and efforts, we work closely with a wide range of experts in counternarcotics, the law enforcement community, and government agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Agency, as well as with families. We are committed to bringing every resource to bear to fight this national crisis both on Snapchat and across the tech industry, particularly by raising awareness about the dangers of counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl."

Buying drugs is as easy as planting a string of emojis on a social media platform to signal the interest in a sale, Murphy said. The DEA says drug traffickers and the criminal networks are there waiting for you.

Dealers may reassure people that their pills are fentanyl-free, but there's no easy way to tell by looking at them, nor is it easy to know how much fentanyl is in them.

"That's why it could be a 'one pill kill,' because we don't know the dose," said Dr. Robert Bassett, assistant associate director of the Poison Control Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "It's like driving at night with your headlights off."

The opioid overdose antidote

Fentanyl has become such a big problem among young people that some schools have started keeping naloxone, an antidote to opioid overdoses that's available under the brand name Narcan, on hand.

Hartford, Connecticut, is one example. In January, a 13-year-old boy died after collapsing in gym class at a Hartford school. Two other seventh-graders were taken to Connecticut Children's for treatment and evaluation. Police found 40 bags of fentanyl at the school and 100 bags in boy's bedroom.

On Tuesday, the American Medical Association encouraged the Biden administration to remove the prescription status of naloxone to make it more easily available over the counter.

All 50 states and the District of Columbia have some form of naloxone access laws that allow for the prescribing and dispensing of the treatment to substance users vulnerable to overdose and to nonmedical first responders like family and friends, according to the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association. As of 2020, at least 20 states allow schools to possess naloxone and administer it, but they are not required to do so.

How to get help

Though the experts say there are not enough counselors and treatment programs for preteens and teens, there are treatment programs that work for adolescents.

The first step in successful treatment is recognition. Parents need to stay vigilant for changes in a child's behavior, which may be an early sign that they're using drugs.

The changes can be subtle at first, Bassett said. They may not hang out with the same friends or may stop showing interest in favorite activities. They may be angry or sleep more. But parents need to talk to their kids about it -- even middle schoolers -- and do it more than once.

"This is not a 'one conversation and forget it.' This is something you're going to have to just pound in terms of every night at the kitchen table," Murphy said.

Children's brains aren't fully formed, and their risk-reward centers may not help them make the right choices all the time. "They're the perfect, most vulnerable population," Bassett said.

Bassett recommends that parents check with the National Institute on Drug Abuse for resources. They can also call Poison Control at (800) 222-1222 for free inforrmation.

Medication-assisted treatment is considered more effective than abstinence, Bassett said. Wraparound services, individualized treatment to help the child and family, can include peer counseling and drug rehabilitation. And, Bassett said, it may be important to address underlying issues that lead the child to experiment with the drugs in the first place.

"There may be unmet psychological conditions that force people into self-medicating," Bassett said. "They're just looking not to suffer."

Drug overdose deaths have doubled over the past six years, soaring in recent months amid the COVID-19 pandemic and continued rise of fentanyl.

The country first surpassed 100,000 annual deaths in April, and overdose deaths have persisted at staggeringly high levels since.

The latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published Wednesday, shows that drug overdose deaths have reached another record high.

An estimated 104,288 people died of drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending September 2021. In September 2015, the annual death toll was about 52,000.

The pandemic accelerated trends that were already heading in the wrong direction, and experts say that reversing course will require concentrated efforts — and it will take time, both strategically and ideologically.

"If and when COVID restrictions ease, you won't see a reversal in the same way you saw the acceleration because these drug distribution networks and addiction become embedded in the community. And it's not like they turn off overnight," said Katherine Keyes, an associate professor at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health whose research focuses on psychiatric and substance use epidemiology.

Early in the pandemic, Keyes was part of a research team that modeled the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on drug overdoses. They found that even if the pandemic did end overnight, the effects on drug overdoses would persist for at least a year.

There are ways to prevent drug overdose deaths right now, experts say.

Programs like syringe exchanges and heavy distribution of naloxone, an overdose reversal drug, can make an "immediate" difference, said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

"Harm reduction can be life saving for individuals, for example, that are not ready to receive medications or treatment but are at a very high risk of dying," she said, and there is clear data that it works.

But these harm reduction strategies have faced controversy. Utilizing them to their full potential will require an ideological shift, a challenge not unlike what the U.S. has faced when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines, experts say.

"We have a lot to learn from social scientists. Human behavior is complicated, and addressing ideology and opposition to things is really complicated. It's not as simple as just saying, 'This is what the science shows,'" said Dr. Sarah Wakeman, medical director for the substance use disorder initiative at Mass General Hospital and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School.

"We're seeing that right now with harm reduction, where there's this counter narrative that is becoming very polarized."

The latest federal data through September 2021 marks the sixth month in a row that provisional data has held at more than 100,000 deaths annually.

Nationwide, 14,000 more people died of drug overdoses than in the previous year, a 16% increase. Overdose deaths were up in all but three states compared to a year earlier, the provisional CDC data shows. New Hampshire, Hawaii and Delaware each saw year-over-year declines.

In the 12-year period ending September 2021, about two-thirds of overdose deaths nationwide involved synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, which are stronger and faster-acting.

The new federal data shows that overdose deaths from methamphetamine and other psychostimulants also increased significantly, up nearly 36% from the year before. They accounted for about 30% of all overdose deaths in the latest 12-month period, up from about 25% a year earlier.

The link between COVID-19 and the drug epidemic is clear — the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package enacted last year included millions of dollars intended to reduce the harms of drug abuse. But the pandemic may also present broader lessons to carry into the fight against drug overdoses.

"If we invested the sort of attention, resources and political will into addressing the overdose crisis that we have with COVID, I think we would see thousands of lives saved every year. The thing that's different with addressing the overdose crisis that is in many ways easier than thinking about COVID or HIV is that we don't need to wait for scientific breakthroughs," Wakeman said.

"With COVID, it's been incredibly inspiring to see how quickly we can create absolutely seismic changes when there's the acceptance that we're in a state of emergency and that people's lives matter and we have to do things quickly."

Wakeman and others were encouraged to see federal support for harm reduction as one of the four key pillars outlined in the Biden Administration's plan to combat drug overdoses, which was released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in October.

Also included were measures aimed at addressing opioid prescription practices and removing barriers to treatments, as well as recovery support.

Volkow says she believes the Biden administration is committed to efforts outlined in the plan, but others are worried that there may be some backtracking amid recent controversy.

"When we're seeing human suffering at this level, now is not the time to moralize about drug use. Now is the time to save lives," Keyes said. "And, you know, we're in a crisis situation. We need to double down and do everything that we can to save every human life because that's how we're going to get out of this epidemic."

There are signs that the conversation is starting to shift in federal policies and public discourse.

"We've seen a shift throughout the opioid epidemic in the way people talk about drug use and drug users as a public health issue and not a criminal justice issue," Keyes said.

"A lot of times it's really about seeing people close to you who have experienced these conditions, or seeing people that you identify with who've experienced these conditions, that really change people's mindsets."

The new year is usually a time to jump-start healthy habits. But millions of Americans need medical assistance to manage their weight, and they likely aren't getting it.

"We're still in a state today where the average primary care doctor, the average psychologist, even the average dietitian doesn't really have a strong background in obesity management to support most of their patients," said Dr. Scott Kahan, the director of the National Center for Weight and Wellness.

Kahan says over the last decade, the FDA has approved about six weight-management medications. The problem is that some of those medications require injections, and insurance may not cover them. Also, few people or professionals know about them.

"While some of them can do just fine without medication and others might do very well with bariatric surgery, there are quite a lot that are very good technical candidates for medications and would likely have a much better course in terms of managing the obesity and in terms of long term health and prevention," Kahan said.

Kahan says people who are ideal candidates for weight management medication include people who are roughly 30 pounds or more overweight and have health-related issues like diabetes, high blood pressure, joint pain or sleep issues.

"Those are especially important considerations, where the obesity is getting more in the way of your life and your health and where a modest amount of weight loss may significantly improve many of those things," Kahan said.

The FDA could consider another weight management drug for approval as early as this year.

Newborns and younger pediatric patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 can now receive monoclonal antibody treatments that were previously authorized for those 12 and older.

The Food and Drug Administration announced Friday that it had revised its emergency use authorization for bamlanivimab and etesevimab.

The FDA says the monoclonal antibodies can now be used for “treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in all younger pediatric patients, including newborns, who have a positive COVID-19 test and are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death.”

The FDA cautions that the treatment is not a substitute for vaccination.

“Vaccines remain our best tool in the fight against the virus, and there is a COVID-19 vaccine authorized for children 5 years of age and above,” said Patrizia Cavazzoni, M.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

The FDA says it expanded the emergency use authorization following a clinical trial of 125 pediatric patients that showed the monoclonal antibodies were safe and effective.

CHICAGO — While public health officials continue to wrestle with a global pandemic, crooks have been using the crisis as an opportunity to make a profit. Vendors are peddling fake vaccine cards on the dark web and consumers are ordering purported therapeutic drugs from dubious international sources.

Tens of millions of packages come through nine international mailing facilities around the United States annually. It’s a 24-hour operation.

Each year, Customs and Border Protection officers inspect and screen tens of million parcels to ensure they comply with state and federal law.

And since the beginning of the pandemic, they’ve been busy.

“We were seizing unapproved medications coming from China that were manufactured in clandestine labs,” said Christopher Macko, a supervisory officer with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

He says his officers have been intercepting everything from fake PPE and COVID-19 testing kits to drugs and phony vaccine cards.

“We were seeing hundreds and thousands of packages coming from unknown lands, basically to the consumer, in the United States,” he said.

Between January of last year and the end of July this year, the agency seized nearly 40 million counterfeit face masks, 187,000 FDA-prohibited COVID-19 test kits, and approximately 40,000 tablets of unapproved chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine.

“This is an open market, an unregulated market, also an illegal market,” said Ryan Linder, an emerging threats expert with Check Point Research.

They’ve been monitoring activity associated with pandemic-related fraud, cyber threats, and illegal commerce—some of it on the dark web.

“We must increase vaccination among the unvaccinated with new vaccination requirements,” said President Biden on Sept. 9.

Linder says the day after President Biden announced an emergency vaccine mandate for American workers, online activity spiked.

“The cost of these of these illegal cards on these platforms doubled overnight,” said Linder. “But more disturbingly, the number of sellers increased by about ten times.”

Earlier this month, Customs and Border Patrol seized two consignments destined for Texas that contained counterfeit vaccination cards from China. They also found shipments from China and Mexico headed to Atlanta, St. Louis and Minnesota that contained the controversial drugs ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.

Linder warns that purchasing these kinds of items not only poses a risk to public health but to your personal information.

“You have no idea where that personal information ends up, so you may get a fake vaccine card. Your data might be sold on the dark web at great profit to these bad actors,” he said.

As the public remains sharply divided over vaccine mandates and controversial therapeutics, Linder says as long as people are willing to buy, the illegal imports won’t disappear.

“They want to have what they want to enjoy their lives and make money and earn a living, but they don't want a vaccine,” he said. “That population, I think, will be fixed for a very long time and therefore there will be a demand that's increasing with each one of these mandates.”

The simple warning to contraband shoppers he says is buyer beware.

The pandemic has made addiction exponentially worse. Doctors are worried that those who are suffering aren't getting the treatment and help they need, especially as people turn their focus to Covid-19.

Ashlynn, 25, is two years "clean."

"I love being a mom. It's my favorite thing ever and I love that I’m in recovery,” she said.

It's been two years since she walked away from a life that was spiraling out of control and heading for an extremely dark place.

“I went through stages of functioning addict, thief, manipulator, prostitute, the person that relapses, the person that overdoses, you name it I went through it,” Ashlynn explains.

Her journey with mental illness started when she was a teenager. She was in and out of mental institutions and eventually, rehab.

“It wasn’t that I wanted to party, it was just that I didn’t want to feel anything at all because I felt so terrible. I didn’t want any of those feelings,” she recalls.

It wasn't that she didn't try to break away, it was that she couldn't. She relapsed. A lot. And then she was confronted with one of those life moments in which she realized that her life could go one way or another.

“I remember being in a hospital and thinking, 'I don’t want to die a statistic. I’m more than a statistic. I don’t want to die a statistic.' And I got arrested and that helped me get my life together because I don’t really want to go to jail,” Ashlynn said.

She made milestones for herself. And eventually, became the person she is today, after finding what doctors call "medication assisted treatment," balanced with support groups and counseling. The first step though, says Dr. Adam Rubinstein, is making that call for help.

“My concern is that because we’re all so focused on Covid-19 and it is so scary, patients with opioid use disorder who were already moving in the shadows may be even more marginalized,” Dr. Rubinstein said.

Dr. Rubinstein works in both internal and addiction medicine.

“We take care of people who have a disorder that hijacks their brain, people that are compulsively using a substance and can’t stop on their own," he said.

The behaviors, he says, bring negative consequences. But those who suffer from the disease of addiction can't stop, and end up using so as to not suffer withdrawal.

“They think they’ll die when they’re in withdrawal and will do anything they can to get out of it. Which means using that drug of choice again,” he said.

The disease of addiction doesn't stop even in a global health crisis. The death rate from opioid overdoses is rising.

“The second problem is that Covid-19 brings unemployment, financial problems, isolation and depression. Third, is our healthcare system is now less accessible,” Dr. Rubinstein explained.

When we asked how the problem is addressed during a pandemic, Dr. Rubinstein said, “there is no one answer because addiction requires customization based on the provider and the patient deciding what is most effective.”

As for Ashlynn, she wants people to know there's hope. And a way out.

“I don’t regret what I went through, though, because it brought me to where I am today. I’m a different person than I was before I started using,” she said.

It's never too early and never too late to start the road to recovery, Ashlynn says.

For those who are ready to take the first step towards a new life, doctors recommend visiting www.samhsa.org and rethinkopioidaddiction.com

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Undercover detective work led to the recovery of various narcotics, a gun and thousands of dollars in cash, the Butler County Sheriff's Office announced Wednesday.

The Butler County Undercover Regional Narcotics task force Tuesday conducted a search warrant at a residence on Sutphin Street in Middletown, according to a news release. The drugs seized included marijuana, dabs -- a highly concentrated marijuana extract -- pressed pills believed to be fentanyl, and associated paraphernalia.

In addition to the drugs, task force officers confiscated $8,000 in cash and a handgun.

Officers detained three individuals in relation to the seizure, one of whom was arrested on outstanding warrants. The release indicated that at least two additional arrests will result, pending lab analysis results.

International Overdose Awareness Day is observed to remember all who have lost their lives to substance abuse disorder.

The day is the world's largest campaign to end overdose and acknowledge the grief and pain of those they left behind.

Sister station WBAL spoke with a mother who lost her daughter in July 2020.

"My daughter was the most beautiful, outgoing smart person," Michele Applegate said.

Applegate said those smarts led to a college scholarship in 2011. Once there, Abigail Thompson's struggle with drugs began.

"She was very popular, started hanging around with other affluent popular kids and started using cocaine, LSD, mushrooms," Applegate said.

That began a 10-year battle with addiction. Thompson was in 17 recovery programs. Applegate said she went into debt paying more than $100,000 trying to help her daughter recover. Thompson's longest period of sobriety was 18 months.

Applegate said in the summer of 2020, Thompson was back in treatment.

"Unfortunately, she met someone in treatment that had just been admitted that had drugs, they used at the program, the program discharged both of them," she said.

Thompson would later overdose on fentanyl and die. She was 27.

Dr. Kenneth Stoller, director of the Johns Hopkins Broadway Center for Addiction, said the pandemic fueled the rise of overdose deaths.

"People are alone more if they are using alone, there's not people there to call 911 or to use Narcan to revive them. This is a 'I carry this at all times,' this is a lifesaving medication that everybody should be carrying so that if somebody overdoses, they can be revived right away," Stoller said.

On awareness day, Applegate wants people to know: "If you're involved with someone who has a substance abuse disorder, don't give up on them. If they are breathing, there is hope for them to get recovery. Get help for yourself so you can support loved ones, don't give up. Always keep that connection there so when they are ready for help, you are able to support them."

RICHMOND, Va. — Jennifer Campbell has faced loss, addiction, and domestic abuse.

“It just took being in the wrong place at the wrong time, at a weak moment, and I used again, and from the next six months was the deepest, darkest hell I've ever known,” Campbell said.

Campbell has even been on the brink of death.

“He beat me so badly, he put me in a body bag in a river and I was unconscious, but I kept waking up," Campbell said. "I don't know if the cold water, but I kept waking up and I try to fight my way out of a body bag. And someone pulled up into these woods, by the grace of God, and he saw them. So he came and got me out of the river and took me back to the house. So God saved me once again.”

It wasn’t until she was arrested for drug distribution that she finally got away from that man. She says she believes God used the time she served behind bars as an opportunity to press the reset button.

After jail, Campbell went to a long-term residential facility called the Mercy House. She’s now been sober for four years. Rosalinda Rivera is the executive director of Mercy House.

“Our home represents probably about 90% of women that have been through sexual abuse, through some kind of physical abuse," Rivera said. "They are victims of violence, domestic violence, who have many of them have turned to addiction to find a way of an escape.”

Rivera says the women go through a series of family classes, job-related training, and relapse prevention. She says a recent study done by the University of Maryland shows 65% of the women who finish the program never go back to their addiction.

“For the 50 years that we've been doing this program, we have seen that the core issue is a lack of hope.”

As the U.S. opioid crisis continues to get worse, Rivera says it was heartbreaking to turn ladies away at the beginning of the pandemic.

“Once we realized that we could do testing and let people in the door, the phones, well, the phones never stop ringing,” Campbell said.

Campbell says there are many reasons people facing addiction have been struggling more throughout the pandemic.

“Probably they lost their jobs and they were struggling financially," Campbell said. "Maybe someone in their family was suffering from COVID-19 and maybe someone in their family passed away due to it. And I mean, that just brings on so many different aspects of grief. And some people don't know any way to deal with that other than to run to drugs.”

According to the CDC, a record 93,000 people died from a drug overdose in 2020.

Dr. Nora Volkow is the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health. She says the opioid crisis has basically been put on the backburner during the pandemic.

“The number of people that have died from opioids significantly rose during the pandemic year of 2020," Dr. Volkow said. "The estimate is that there was at least a 30% increase from 2019. And so this is the largest increase in overdose deaths that we have ever recorded.”

She says the health care system was saturated because of COVID-19 and there’s been a rise in more dangerous drugs like fentanyl.

“The people that are mostly affected are between 24 and 54 years of age, so they are at the prime of their lives,” Dr. Volkow said.

In order to make these numbers go down, Dr. Volkow says we need to end the stigmas surrounding addiction so people aren’t ashamed to seek medical help. She also would like to see an expansion of access to naloxone – a medication that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose.

Places like the Mercy House help these women to view themselves in a more positive light giving them the chance to start a new chapter.

“It's a battle that they're going to deal with the rest of their life, and so if they plug in a community that's thriving, if you get plugged and if they have purpose, so many people are just looking for a purpose," Rivera said. "And when they find purpose, that is what kind of separates them and helps them stay on the path to recovery.”

HAMPTON ROADS, Va. — As COVID-19 vaccination efforts ramp up, so do ways of treating the virus.

The FDA recently authorized the emergency use of new antibody treatment in high-risk patients who have mild to moderate symptoms.

Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company performed a clinical trial on the experimental treatment.

Dr. Janell Sabo, the COVID-19 therapeutics platform leader for Eli Lilly, said the therapy combines both bamlanivimab and etesevimab drugs to help treat the disease.

“This is another important tool in the tool kit for the healthcare professionals in your area to use to treat patients who have an active infection,” she said.

Data from the pharmaceutical company showed the treatment, when given within 10 days of experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 87%.

Sabo said the need for the therapies is critical even as cases continue to decrease.

“It’s an important option that people need to be talking about,” she said. “Today, still only one in six are actually getting treated in this high-risk population, which means five out of six are still at that risk of hospitalization, emergency room visits, needing to go to their doctor’s office, and potentially also death as an outcome.”

The antibodies, according to Sabo, are lab-made proteins that mimic the immune system’s ability to fight off the virus.

“Monoclonal antibodies that are called neutralizing antibodies are infused over 16 to 21 minutes,” Sabo said. “Typically, this is done in a healthcare facility known as an infusion center.”

Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters are two of several locations that administer the therapy. Other infusion centers can be found at combatcovid.hhs.gov.

Sabo said the treatment is free but might not be for everyone.

“I think this is a really important treatment option, but it’s also a personal decision; it’s one between you and your healthcare professional,” she said. “What I really encourage people is to have a conversation with their physician because they’re best positioned to know your medical condition to know if it makes sense for you.”

This story was first published by Antoinette DelBel at WTKR.

The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the use of the experimental drug aducanumab for early phases of Alzheimer's disease — despite an FDA advisory committee concluding last year that there is not enough evidence to support the effectiveness of the treatment.

The drug was developed for patients with mild cognitive impairment, not severe dementia, and intended to slow progression of Alzheimer's disease — not just ease symptoms.

The FDA has not approved a new Alzheimer's drug in nearly 20 years.

'We have to really temper expectations'

In November, the FDA's Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee was asked to vote on several questions about evidence of the drug's effectiveness. In response to a question about whether it was reasonable to consider data from one positive study as the primary evidence of aducanumab's effectiveness for the treatment of early Alzheimer's disease, none of the committee members voted yes — 10 voted no and one was uncertain.

The committee's opinions were then left with the FDA as the agency mulled whether to approve the drug or pump the brakes.

The pharmaceutical company Biogen and its Japanese partner Eisai developed aducanumab, administered through intravenous infusion to treat early Alzheimer's disease. The drug was developed for patients with mild cognitive impairment, not severe dementia.

"This drug targets the earliest symptomatic phase of the disease, called mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's. Treatment of this pre-dementia period is what the FDA is deciding on," Dr. Richard Isaacson, director of the Alzheimer's Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian in New York, who had patients in the original aducanumab clinical studies, told CNN.

"We have to really temper expectations and explain to people that this drug is meant for the earliest symptomatic phases," he added. "It pains me to say this but if I have a severe Alzheimer's patient that can no longer speak or interact much with others and their family member is begging me to give them this drug, I won't be able to do it."

Controversy and high price tag

Aducanumab's road to seeking FDA approval has been rocky — and controversial.

In March 2019, Phase 3 clinical trials of aducanumab were discontinued because a futility analysis found the trials were unlikely to meet their primary goals at completion.

"The futility analyses showed the studies were most likely to fail," said Isaacson of the Alzheimer's Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian.

Several months later, Biogen announced that a new analysis, which included more patients, showed that those who received high doses aducanumab experienced a reduction in clinical decline in one trial.

The company noted in FDA briefing documents last year that patients treated with high-dose aducanumab showed 22% less clinical decline in their cognitive health at about 18 months — meaning the progression of their early Alzheimer's disease slowed — compared with those who received a placebo.

Results for some patients in another study supported those findings, as well.

"Now the messaging was like, 'Wait a minute. It worked, and it especially works if you pull all the high dosages from the two studies,'" Isaacson said. "Because it would take years to repeat a study, and considering the lack of available therapies to treat the pre-dementia phase, the company made an uncharacteristic decision — to still apply to the FDA."

In July 2020, Biogen completed its submission to the FDA for a Biologics License Application for approval of the drug.

Since then, Alzheimer's disease researchers, doctors and patients have been waiting for the FDA's decision.

Some groups, including the nonprofit Public Citizen's Health Research Group, argued that the FDA should not approve aducanumab for treatment of Alzheimer's disease due to lack of evidence of its effectiveness.

In April, the nonprofit wrote a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra asking the department's Office of Inspector General to investigate the "close collaboration" between FDA and Biogen regarding the company's application for approval of aducanumab.

There have also been concerns around cost.

In May, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review released a draft report estimating that the drug should cost between $2,560 to $8,290 per year — not up to $50,000 based on market analyst estimates — and noted that "the evidence is insufficient to conclude that the clinical benefits of aducanumab outweigh its harms or, indeed, that it reduces progression" of Alzheimer's disease.

Other organizations, such as the Alzheimer's Association, have supported approval of the drug.

On Friday, the Alzheimer's Association's website said, "Whatever the final decision by the FDA, this is an important moment. We have never before been this close to approval of a medication for Alzheimer's that could change the progression of the disease, not just the symptoms. Together, we can continue working toward our vision of a world without Alzheimer's and all other dementia."

There has been so much attention around the drug that Washington University's Knight Alzheimer Disease Research Center in St. Louis issued a statement on Friday noting that if the drug is approved, "it will still likely take several months for the medication to pass other regulatory steps and become available to patients."

'The infusion gives us the basis for hope'

For those with mild cognitive impairment and their families, the drug had given hope.

Jenny Knap, 69, has received infusions of the aducanumab drug for about a year now as part of clinical trials in two six-month stretches. She told CNN that she underwent treatment for about six months before the study was put on hold in 2019, and then continued treatment about six months ago.

"I can't say if I noticed it on a daily basis, but I do think overall, I'm doing much better in terms of looking for where my glasses are — things like that," Knap said.

In 2015, when Knap was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, a clinical precursor of Alzheimer's disease, the signs of the condition were subtle, but they were there.

She often would misplace her glasses or she would repeat herself, forgetting conversations from moments ago, her husband, Joe Knap, said.

As these occurrences became more frequent, "we were aware that things were starting to slip through the cracks," Joe said.

Jenny visited the Cleveland Clinic's Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Ohio for testing and received her diagnosis. Then a couple of years later, in early 2017, Jenny learned that she was eligible to participate in clinical trials for the Biogen drug aducanumab at the Cleveland Clinic. She signed up to volunteer — and has been in the trial ever since.

"It turned out that for the first year and a half Jenny was in the placebo category," Joe said, which means she did not receive the treatment.

The trial was blind so they did not know she was in the placebo group until recently. As the study went on, Joe said that she was later given the drug around August 2018 and continued until February 2019. Biogen suspended the trial in March 2019, but it then resumed last fall and Jenny began receiving infusions again.

Now, every four weeks, with Joe by her side, Jenny receives aducanumab infusions at the Cleveland Clinic, which is about a half-hour drive from their home. Even though she just recently started treatment, Jenny said that she thinks it has been helping some, along with maintaining a healthy diet and exercising regularly — she goes on 4-mile runs.

"Aducanumab's promise is to slow down the progression of the disease and not to improve the cognition. In her case, we did not appreciate any major decline," Dr. Babak Tousi, Jenny's doctor who led aducanumab clinical trials at the Cleveland Clinic site, wrote in an email to CNN.

"This treatment is very different than what we have had before. We have never had a medication that would slow down Alzheimer's disease progression," he said. "Current available medication such as donepezil or memantine only help modestly with the symptoms but do not slow down the disease's progression."

Jenny said that she has not experienced any noticeable side effects of the drug.

"At one point, it was a while back, there was evidence of some very slight bleeding in the brain. It was actually very low levels," Joe said about Jenny, but he added that doctors were not concerned.

Tousi noted in his email that with continued treatment, "blood vessels may become leaky so fluid and red blood cells may leak out to surrounding area" and these "micro hemorrhages have been reported in 19.1% of participants of the trial who received" the maximum dose of treatment.

So far, the infusions and maintaining a healthy lifestyle have given Jenny and Joe a more "upbeat" outlook on the future, Joe said. They were also happy to participate in the trial — an effort to make a helpful difference in the lives of others.

"Before we got into the clinical trial, there was this fear of what lay ahead," Joe said. "The medical component of the infusion gives us the basis for hope. But then the exercise on a daily basis gives us immediate positives."

WAYNE COUNTY, Mich. —

It was a Friday afternoon when Edward Martell, dressed in a dark purple suit and bow tie, stood in front of Judge Bruce Morrow's courtroom. With one hand raised, the new lawyer was sworn into the State Bar of Michigan.

Sixteen years ago in that same Wayne County courtroom, Martell stood in front of Morrow and pleaded guilty to selling and manufacturing crack cocaine.

After being caught in a drug sting, the 27-year-old had gone into court prepared to hear the worst -- possibly 20 years in prison. Instead, he left with just a three-year probation sentence and words of encouragement that he says changed his life.

"I noticed right away Morrow was a unique guy," Martell told CNN. "I walked in his courtroom and I'm watching him and I realize he treats the defendants like real people. I was like 'Whoa, this judge is different.'"

"I will never forget what he told me. He said 'Mr. Martell, you don't have to be out here selling drugs. You have greatness within you. I challenge you, be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company."

When he stepped out of the building, Martell, now 43, told himself he was ready to change. He was ready, he said, for a happier chapter in his life.

While Martell says he was ready to face the upcoming challenges alone, Morrow stayed by his side since the day he left that courtroom.

"I told Ed, my door is always open for you, here's my number, I want to know what you're doing, I want you to keep me in your life," Morrow told CNN. "I gave Ed an opportunity. Everybody deserves to be treated with a great sense of humanity and importance."

Martell became a regular visitor in Morrow's courtroom, sitting quietly in the back as the judge navigated through his docket. The two had lunch, spending hours in conversations that taught them everything they needed to know about one another.

Finding the strength to grow

Martell, a Mexican American and the son of a single mother, was used to struggling.

He grew up in low-income housing, relying on government assistance to survive every day.

"Growing up I didn't realize how hard we had it until I got older and fell victim to a lot of temptations that are out here for young people," he said.

Martell said he received his first juvenile felony conviction when he was 13 years old. Two years later, he was convicted of another felony. He then dropped out of high school and left home, he said.

His whole life involved drug trafficking, up until the moment he met Morrow.

"I've been in front of so many judges, at least 20," Martell said. "I pretty much have had an infraction in most Wayne County cities. I knew I was on my way to prison. I guess all I needed was some love."

For years, the judge got to watch Martell's growth, beginning with his enrollment in a community college, to winning a full academic scholarship to the University of Detroit Mercy, to graduating at the top of his class.

Martell was then accepted to the university's law school, where he received another full scholarship. The hard part, he said, was passing the character and fitness application to prove he was morally fit to practice law.

"We had to have a hearing, he had to hire a lawyer, I testified to his character and fitness," Morrow said. "That was the big deal, these people looking at him and making a decision on whether or not he was fit when they didn't walk one day in his shoes."

After weeks of worrying, finding people to back him up, and writing a 1,200-word application to support his belief that he was competent to become a lawyer, Martell received a favorable result.

"I just cried like a baby," he said.

After passing the bar exam on his second try, Martell was close to the finish line.

The day he became a newly sworn lawyer

It was a sunny day -- blue skies, no clouds -- when Martell prepared to officially become a lawyer. He worked hard to keep his hands steady as he buttoned up his shirt.

It was the moment he'd been waiting for since the day he decided to become a new person.

"I was nervous. I was excited. It was surreal," Martell said. "I still have to pinch myself sometimes."

When he walked into Morrow's courtroom, followed by his mother, siblings, and his own children, he tried to hold in the overwhelming emotions of the moment.

"We were both so happy, so excited, but we tried to stay low-key, like it's no big deal, so we wouldn't look all giddy and silly," Morrow said. "If Ed was wearing lipstick, you would have been able to see lipstick smudges on both his ears because that's how big that smile was on him. It was a look I'd never forget."

After a brief speech, Martell was sworn in. The judge and the former convict shared a hug, both in tears.

"I see him as my son," Morrow said. "It was like walking your daughter down the aisle. It was one of the moments where I just felt so happy. My joy was for him."

While the story had a happy ending, it's not the end. Both men said they taught each other lessons they will carry for the remainder of their lives.

The experience "reinforced" Morrow's commitment to not judge others, especially those who stand before him, not by "where they came from, how they speak, their lack of good decisions," he said.

"You might think 'Oh, what a crazy choice' but if you knew what they had to choose from you'd say 'You know what, I'd have chosen that, too.'"

"Love changes people," he added. "That's the most important lesson we all should learn from this story."

While Martell taught him to be slow to judge, Morrow taught Martell the importance of dedicating yourself to change. Not just for yourself -- but for those around you.

"It's my duty to change the system," Martell said. "I don't want to be the exception; I should be the norm. For that to happen, I can't use this story to further my career, I have to use it to pave the path for others who stand where I did all those years ago."

After three years as a criminal law clerk at the Perkins Law Group, Martell has joined the team as a criminal defense lawyer. Now a father of four, his goal is no longer about bettering his own life, but to better the lives of his children and the generations after.

With every step he takes, Morrow promises to stay by Martell's side, holding him up when he feels like he's going to fall and reminding him to celebrate every accomplishment.

"Morrow cracked that door open for me and pointed me in the right direction but he never left me," Martell said. "I felt like I was his son and he was proud of me. It was everything I dreamed of."

William Stoehr is a world-renowned artist. His technique involves spilling paint and water onto a canvas.

“I like to say that the drip that’s created may be random or an accident, but what I do with it is not,” Stoehr said.

The subjects in his giant paintings are victims, witnesses and survivors. His artwork has a purpose.

“Somehow, I had to cause people to not just respond, but to maybe take some action or to feel differently about a subject,” Stoehr explained.

He wants to end the stigma that comes with addiction.

“My exposure to it really was through my sister. And this is my sister here. This painting," said Stoehr of one of his paintings. "And she overdosed. She had been suffering from alcoholism and addiction for probably 30 or more years. She succumbed and it was tragic.”

His own life experience with his sister, who he calls ‘Emma’ in his artwork, is what drives him to make a difference in this world.

“I learned that it was very difficult," Stoehr said. "One, for our family to talk about this, but two, for my sister to seek help. And it was because of the stigma. In fact, one day, she said she was evil. She’s not evil. She had a disease.”

Neuroscientist Nora Volkow has been instrumental in demonstrating that drug addiction is a disease of the human brain. She’s the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

“People still think that people are doing this to themselves,” Dr. Volkow said.

Dr. Volkow uses imaging to understand the changes in the brain that addiction causes. She compares it to the way our bodies memorize a pleasurable response every time we eat or drink water. It motivates our bodies to continue doing those things without thinking about it because it’s necessary for survival.

“But drugs have the capacity to generate and stimulate artificially those same systems creating this strong memory that leads you to want to take the drug the next time you are in the same environment,” Dr. Volkow said.

Dr. Volkow and Stoehr are working alongside each other to change people’s perceptions of those struggling with addiction. They say art communicates emotion and a way to see things differently. Stoehr uses specific methods in his artwork to make people connect.

“It just grabs you as an emotion. I mean, these large faces,” Dr. Volkow said about Stoehr's artwork.

Stoehr says neuroscience taught him that people react strongly to a face with prominent eyes. Moreover, the ambiguity in his paintings forces people to fill in the blanks, allowing us to see ourselves in the paintings, too.

“They are no different from us," Dr. Volkow said. "They feel like us and reach out to you to sort of feel that empathy, to generate that emotional reaction to them as opposed to what we do in society, which basically just rejects them and stigmatizes them and sort of looks the other way.”

Stoehr's art also connects with survivors of addiction and encourages them to seek help. His art is what led his sister to rehab.

“I had tried everything," Stoehr said. "I was at wit's end, and you know, just trying to remain calm and tell her I loved her. And I went up to her door and I said, ‘I’ll paint you a portrait if you go into rehab’. The door opened just a crack and she said yes."

When survivors look at his art, he says they can relate.

“A woman looked at one of my pieces and she said that I knew exactly how she felt and that she wanted to die," he recalled.

Even though his art may seem dark and solemn at first glance, they also portray hope.

“She said that she looked at the very same piece the next morning and saw hope in the woman’s eyes. And then she said, ‘you saved my life.' Now, if that only happens once, I’m a success as an artist.”

Stoehr says he plans to continue his quest to normalize the conversation surrounding drug abuse.

"I don’t want people to feel bad," Stoehr said. "I want them to respond, to understand, to understand that they’re not alone and then to seek help. To take action.”

Editor’s note: With our coronavirus coverage, our goal is not to alarm you but to equip you with the information you need. We will try to keep things in context and focus on helping you make decisions. See a list of resources and frequently asked questions here.

CINCINNATI -- Social distancing may help prevent the spread of COVID-19, but those methods are taking their toll on people battling addiction. A number of treatment centers, including Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services, haven't closed their doors completely, but they've had to change how they provide care.

“Now more than ever, I worry about them getting stressed out and not calling and reaching out," said Chris Miles, peer recovery coach at Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services, "I worry about their safety.”

Changes in care can cause anxiety and stress, which can be a trigger for some addicts.

“When we ask people to stay at home, that is a dangerous and potentially very risky situation for them,” said Alicia Fine, vice president of employment and recovery at the Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services.

Addiction recovery is already an uphill battle, but without group therapy sessions or meetings like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous -- there's a greater risk of relapse.

“When you’re here 3 times a week, 3 hours each day, when you go down to individual sessions through telehealth -- when we take that away, that group dynamic, that support, that’s been significant and really hard for our clients,” Fine said.

To fill that void, Alicia Fine with the Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services says her team is conducting more one on one sessions over the phone or via video chat.

“We are proactively reaching out to every single client that’s open to our services," Fine said. "Our counselors are pursuing people.”

Peer recovery coach Chris Miles has been sober for almost 4 years -- she said her phone has been ringing around the clock.

“I get calls from clients at 11 at night asking, where can I find a meeting," Miles said. "The anxiety is very real. It's real for all of us in recovery.”

Miles said more virtual AA and NA meetings are taking place on video chat platforms like Zoom.

And according to Miles, within the last couple days, more virtual AA and Narcotics Anonymous meetings are taking place on video chat platforms like Zoom. But for recovering addicts who don’t have a phone or computer, there are some solutions in the works

“Those are some barriers that we’re still trying to break down," Fine said. "We’re giving thought to, maybe we need to give people disposable phones to make sure we can reach them during this time period.”

The Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services are keeping their doors open to anyone looking to begin treatment.

“We have had to make adjustments to the way we’re doing things right now," Miles said. "But we are not going anywhere, we’re still going to be here.”

If you or someone you know needs treatment, call the Center for Addiction Treatment at 513-381-6672.

Here are more virtual services for people in recovery:

Numbers you can call for support:

• Greater Cincinnati Area Hope Line: 513-820-2947
• Northern Kentucky Hope Line: 859-429-1783
• Indiana Addiction Hotline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357)