Strictly Come Dancing’s first live show ratings drop again for a second year with the opening competition night watched by an average of 6.1M

By Geraint Llewellyn For Mailonline

Published: 08:39 EDT, 17 September 2023 | Updated: 08:49 EDT, 17 September 2023

Kevin Costner has said he expects his income to drop ‘dramatically’ now he is no longer on Yellowstone – as his divorce battle with second wife Christine Baumgartner rumbles on.

The actor, 68, is reportedly the highest-paid actor on TV, rumoured to have earned $1.3 million per episode of the award-winning show.

His ex, 49, claimed that in 2022, when he appeared in eight episodes, he earned $24.5 million from Yellowstone and other sources.

But the actor said he is expecting his income to drop ‘dramatically’ now that he has left the programme, in order to make his four-film Western epic, Horizon.

‘I will earn substantially less in 2023 than I did in 2022,’ he predicted. ‘This is because I am no longer under contract for Yellowstone, the principal source of my income last year.

‘The fixed amount, ‘pay or play’ and episodic compensation I received has ceased.

‘Now, any compensation I earn from Yellowstone will derive only from my back-end contractual participation rights.’ [A star’s percentage of the proceeds, once the show is in profit.]

‘The most recent report from the producer for Yellowstone shows I am not now owed any participation money (although I have disputed this). 

‘So far in 2023 I have yet to receive any participation compensation from Yellowstone.’

Following furious speculation about the end of the hit Western series – and reports of a sensational feud between himself and the show’s creator Taylor Sheridan – the actor stated in court documents that he ‘doesn’t anticipate being on location for at least the rest of 2023’, despite the show being slated to start filming on the second half of season five in August. 

Earlier this year, it was confirmed that Yellowstone will end after the second half of the fifth season, with Kevin finishing his run as rancher John Dutton in the hit Paramount series to focus on other projects. 

However, while production on the second half of season five is due to start in a matter of months, according to Deadline, court documents submitted as part of Costner’s divorce proceedings against former spouse Christine suggest he won’t take part in filming.

In court papers seen by DailyMail.com: ‘I do not anticipate that I will be on location for at least the rest of 2023.’

The documents – which contained explosive claims as Costner and his wife of 18 years, Christine, engage in a bitter divorce – revealed that he would be returning to California this month to be with his children.

Doubt has already been cast over whether the show will be able to begin filming again as a result of the writer’s strike, which has thrown many long-running Hollywood productions into a state of uncertainty. 

It may be that Costner expects the strike to stretch on until the end of the year, thereby preventing him from filming any Yellowstone scenes, which were initially shot in Utah before production moved to Montana, however his statement in the court documents seems to make clear that he has no plans to travel away from California for any project until at least 2024. 

DailyMail.com has reached out to Kevin’s representatives for further comment.

Christine filed for divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences on May 1.

The estranged couple share three children: Cayden, 15, Hayes, 14, and Grace, 13.

In the court papers, the actor’s lawyers claim that they have made ‘multiple offers’ to get his wife to move out of the former marital home, a $145 million beachfront compound in Carpinteria, California.

But they say they have failed to reach an agreement with Christine, 49, a model turned handbag designer, leaving Costner effectively homeless. 

On June 8, Christine’s side filed a restraining order against Costner which forbids him from taking the children out of the state and transferring or selling any property. 

On June 9, Costner’s side filed a request for an order to kick Christine out of the house, a filing known as a ‘preliminary injunction prohibiting petitioner from occupancy.’ 

In his declaration filed as part of the injunction Costner himself said: ‘Christine and I have been working on a summer schedule to ensure that the children have smooth transition between our two homes.’

He added: ‘Even when I am working I arrange to see the children frequently. I was in California for our son’s birthday in early May and the children visited me May 21-24 in Utah where I was filming. 

‘This month I will return to California to my Separate Property Residence and plan on staying here at least through the end of this year (except perhaps for any vacations). I am a very hands-on father. I drive our children to school, attend their events and am involved in their daily lives. I agree that, when I am on location filming, the children will spend more time with their mother. However, I do not anticipate that I will be on location for at least the rest of 2023.’

Instead he says he will be editing the Horizon films at his studio in Carpinteria.

The veteran actor was said to have been blindsided by Christine filing for divorce.

Kevin is worth $250 million and under the terms of the prenup, signed in 2004, she was to leave his properties if they split and relocate, using a $1.2 million fund to find a new house. 

He alleges that his former spouse is in breach of that agreement – saying that he now wishes to move back into the huge house which they shared.

The lawyers said: ‘What is happening now is exactly what he and Christine contracted to avoid in the event their marriage failed.

‘Christine has accepted the benefits of the PMA (pre marital agreement) over the years, but now refuses to accept this one burden.’

Both sides seem to be preparing for a ‘War of the Roses’ style legal battle over their huge $145 million house in Carpinteria, California. It is owned solely by Costner and he bought it in 1988, long before their 2004 wedding.

Kevin is complaining that he needs a home as he will be off location from early June.

Extraordinarily, he says that he was made homeless during his last divorce. The house next door, also owned by him, is used he says as a place to edit films.

He says that he funded Christine’s two ‘failed’ businesses both before and during the marriage, and says that she was happy to benefit from the premarital agreement for years, but is now seeking to ditch it.

Additionally he claims that following their separation Christine ‘charged $95,000’ to his credit card ‘without prior notice to me.’

That money was spent on lawyers and on a forensic accountant.

By James Evans For Mailonline

Published: 04:04 EDT, 24 June 2023 | Updated: 15:35 EDT, 24 June 2023

Advertisement

An American tourist who miraculously survived after being thrown 165 feet off a cliff during a sight-seeing trip to Germany‘s ‘Cinderella’ castle was saved from almost certain death by a fallen tree, new footage of her rescue appears to show.

Police believe the 22-year-old woman was thrown over the edge after she tried to intervene when her friend was attacked by another US national – a 30-year-old man.

Her 21-year-old friend, also American, was also thrown down the cliff, but sadly died.

The video filmed by tourists at the main entrance to the famous Neuschwanstein Castle shows German mountain rescuers being lowered down from a helicopter to where the two women landed next to each other – half-way down the  steep cliff.

One of the women, who appears to be wearing a light blue top, can be seen moving around next to a fallen tree, some way down the steep slope. The fallen tree is right at the top of a sheer drop down a much steeper portion of the cliff.

Both women were airlifted to hospital, where the 21-year-old was pronounced dead. Were it not for the fallen tree, it appears that her friend would have likely also died.

The new video was filmed just by the entrance to the castle in south Germany.

Earlier, police told MailOnline that the surviving woman miraculously only suffered light injuries from the massive fall – cruising and a laceration. 

The 30-year-old American man has been held on charges of murder, attempted murder and one sexual offence. He was seen being led away from the scene in handcuffs with video taken by another tourist showing scratches on his face. 

Police said he has ‘had his say in court’ after refusing to speak to investigators.

The emergence of the new footage came as MailOnline revealed the three tourists had all been staying at the same Munich hotel. The victims did not know her assailant, but was on the same day trip excursion to the world famous  castle.

It opens showing the scene from a distance, with several tourists gathered looking out at a cliff face hundreds of feet away, as the helicopter descends.

The footage zooms in, and the woman becomes visible on the side of the cliff, sitting close to where the fallen tree appears to have stopped her fall.

The rescuers are lowered down towards her. Another clip MailOnline published yesterday showed one of the two women being airlifted away.

While the earlier clip showed the rescue efforts, the new clip contextualises the seen – and shows just how close the surviving American tourists came to falling even further down the cliff that runs to the south of Neuschwanstein castle.

Were it not the for tree, it appears she could have fallen hundreds of feet more, and would have been highly unlikely to survive. 

The two women are thought to have been attacked at around 2.40pm on Wednesday. Police say they met the man near the Marienbrücke bridge, a narrow footbridge that at its highest point crosses 300ft above a gorge – with a stream and waterfall underneath – and offers stunning views of the castle.

Police said the man allegedly persuaded them to follow him down a secluded trail that led to a good lookout point, where he ‘physically attacked’ the 21-year-old.

When her friend tried to intervene, he allegedly choked her and pushed her down a steep slope. Police believe ‘an attempted sexual offence’ was then committed against the 21-year-old, before she was also pushed down the slope.

She fell next to her friend some 165ft below.

The pair were airlifted away by helicopter, but the 21-year-old woman tragically died in hospital from injuries sustained in the fall.

Miraculously, her 22-year-old companion suffered only minor injuries – bruises and a laceration – and has since been able to make a statement to police.

She is expected to be released from hospital today. 

The suspect fled the scene, but was caught after a massive police operation involving 25 emergency vehicles.

He was taken to a police station in nearby town of Fuessen.

A witness video posted online showed a man in a T-shirt, jeans and a baseball cap being led away in handcuffs by police, while another clip showed one of the victims being airlifted out of the ravine by a mountain rescue helicopter.  

All three of the US visitors had been staying at the budget Siebel Hotel in the centre of Munich, around 50 miles away from the castle. They had travelled by coach to Neuschwanstein with other tourists. 

Staff at the hotel confirmed that they had been visited by police on Wednesday afternoon hours after the alleged attack.

The two girls – who have yet to be formally named by police – shared a twin bed ground floor room at the £90 ($115) night hotel.

Staff identified the two women from social media photos and said they had sat together at breakfast.

The hotel manager told Mail Online the belongings of the two women had been removed from their first-floor room and put into storage.

The pair, from Illinois, had checked into the hotel on Tuesday and travelled the 55 miles to the castle near the town of Garmisch Partenkitchen on an organised tour.

A police source said the three US tourists had travelled to the castle together but were otherwise not known to each other. 

They are not thought to be from the same US state. 

The US State Department said they are aware of the incident and their consulate in Munich is monitoring the situation closely. Spokesman Matthew Miller said they were in close contact with the German authorities.

A spokesman for Bavarian police said: ‘We couldn’t verify yet which US state the suspect is from. Inquiries are still ongoing via German and American authorities. 

‘The suspect didn’t make any comments to police but in his hearing in court yesterday he did have his say in regards to remaining in custody. We don’t want to say exactly what he said, however,’ he told MailOnline.

Under German law, suspects must be brought before a judge at a closed-doors hearing by the end of the calendar day after their arrest if investigators intend to keep them in custody.

Police said a judge in nearby Kempten on Thursday ordered him held pending a potential indictment and he was taken to jail. 

Meanwhile, police are searching for video footage of the incident. As of 8am this morning, they said they had recieved a dozen submissions from visitors and that investigators would being scouring through it today for any new information.

The officials said they hoped the international coverage of the shocking attack would result in more people coming forward witnesses statements, as many of the people who visit the bridge are tourists from abroad. 

‘We are looking for photographs which, by chance, show two young women and a man (approximately 30 years old) who were staying east of the Marienbruecke,’ Kempten police said on their website. 

‘These persons may have been walking together or separately.’

The motive for the attack is still unclear, while all parties remain unnamed.

Criminal police have taken over the investigation into attempted murder and murder, as well as a sexual offence, with the current focus on reconstructing exactly how the incident took place, police said. 

Police have created a tip line for witnesses to submit other footage or leads and until this morning, they received a dozen submissions, according to a spokesman. 

Local police spokesperson Holger Stabik told MailOnline they had received a dozen photos and video from other sight seers. Up to 6,000 people a day visit the castle. 

‘We are just going to see what comes up and meanwhile we are still looking for footage. Other than that, we have announced that the suspect is a US citizen and we are, right at the moment, talking to the consulate’. 

‘Right now we don’t have a proper address for the suspect. There is, of course an address noted, but we can’t yet tell for sure where it originates from, so all of this is going to the US authorities right at the moment, so that they can check it out.’

‘Furthermore, the suspect was of course interviewed and he didn’t tell anything to the police, but in front of the judge he then did but in terms of the content.’

He said the investigation could take several weeks or months and the suspect can be held for up to six months before he must be charged or released.

‘What is missing now and what’s going to happen within the next few weeks and months is that we are going to collect together all the stuff that we have, the evidence, and evaluate it forensically. 

‘And this is going to take some time,’ said the spokesman.

A man who witnessed the aftermath of the incident told MailOnline that he saw a man ‘with a bloodied face’ being led away from the attraction in handcuffs.

Eric Abneri, a 21-year-old tourist from New York, said he and his friends arrived at the castle on Wednesday afternoon when they heard the sound of a helicopter above.

Mr Abneri filmed the footage of the helicopter and the man being led away. 

‘We saw two or three men repelling (into the ravine) and were confused, until I noticed the woman in blue who we thought fell.

‘They rescued the woman. I’m unsure of who lived and the helicopter flew away, then came back for the other rescuers. Shortly after we went back to see the bridge and it was closed with a police presence.’

Mr Abneri said there was a large police presence at the scene. ‘We waited and a man with a bloodied face came out in handcuffs,’ he said.

Speaking later to the Associated Press, Abneri – a recent business graduate from the University of Pittsburgh – said the man appeared to have scratches across his face.

‘He did not say a single word. He didn’t open his mouth; he didn’t mumble,’ Abneri said. ‘He just walked with the police and that was it.’

He also praised the rescuers for their efforts. ‘I’m honestly absolutely stunned someone is still alive from this. It is like falling from the top of an absolute cliff.’

Abneri described it as ‘a very, very difficult rescue because of those cliffs and because the helicopter came mere feet above the tree line at the top of the hill.’

‘They did an unbelievable job,’ he said.  

Police were seen interviewing witnesses to the attack ‘who looked shook up,’ he added, saying that the bridge was later reopened to the public.

The building of Neuschwanstein Castle was completed in 1886 after almost 20 years. It is located in the Swabia region of Bavaria, close to Alps and the Austrian border.

Its construction was commissioned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who wanted a holiday home to escape to from the Bavarian capital of Munich.

He paid for the castle out of his personal fortune and through extensive borrowing, but he never saw it completed. He died in 1886, shortly before it opened.

Since then, more than 61million people have visited it.

An op-ed in the Washington Post is calling for President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to bow out of the 2024 race for ‘the sake of the country.’

Columnist George F. Will pointed to a slew of Biden’s gaffes and verbal blunders as reason enough for why ‘Joe Biden should not seek another term.’

‘Democrats should promptly face that fact, and this one: An Everest of evidence shows that Vice President Harris is starkly unqualified to be considered as his successor.’

The scathing op-ed piece comes just a day after Biden fumbled his words during a campaign stop in Florida where he confused the American war in Iraq and the Russian war in Ukraine – then flubbed again by saying son Beau died in the Iraq war when, in fact, he died in 2015 of brain cancer. 

The op-ed piece first addressed one of Biden’s gaffes that Will believed slipped by unnoticed. 

Will wrote that Biden did not sign the $426 billion student loan forgiveness into law like the president had recently claimed. 

In August, Biden announced that he had decided to cancel up to $10,000 in student loan debt for people making less than $125,000 annually, or as much as $20,000 for individuals in the same income bracket who were also Pell Grant recipients.

However, a federal appeals court has temporarily blocked Biden’s plan, creating uncertainty for millions of borrowers. But for now, the website is live and accepting applications.

But in the op-ed piece on Wednesday, Will pushed home his point that the loan forgiveness was not something accomplished by ‘a law’ Biden had signed. 

‘Biden was not merely again embellishing his achievements. This is not just another of his verbal fender benders,’ he wrote. ‘There is no less-than-dismaying explanation for his complete confusion. What vote? Who voted?’

He continued: ‘After repeated unilateral extensions of the moratorium on loan repayments until election season, Biden unilaterally implemented the windfall for millions of voters. Congress was not involved in this cataract of money from the Treasury, in violation of the Constitution’s appropriations clause.’

‘It is frightening that Biden does not know, or remember, what he recently did regarding an immensely important policy,’ he wrote. ‘He must be presumed susceptible to future episodes of similar bewilderment. He should leave the public stage on Jan. 20, 2025.’

On Tuesday night, Biden again said that his son Beau Biden died in Iraq, while catching himself calling the war in Ukraine the Iraq war, while delivering remarks in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

‘Inflation is a worldwide problem right now,’ the president said. ‘There’s a war in Iraq and the impact on oil and what Russia’s doing. Excuse me, the war in Ukraine.’

‘I’m thinking Iraq, because that’s where my son died – because he died,’ Biden then explained.

Beau Biden, who served as Delaware’s attorney general and in the Delaware Army National Guard in the Iraq War, died at age 46 in 2015 from brain cancer at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

The president has long linked his service, and the military’s use of burn pits, to Beau’s brain cancer diagnosis.

‘In my view, I can’t prove it yet, he came back with stage 4 glioblastoma. Eighteen months he lived, knowing he was going to die,’ Biden said in 2019.

Biden previously said that Beau died in Iraq while speaking at Camp Hale in Colorado last month.

‘Just imagine – I mean it sincerely – I say this as a father of a man who won the Bronze Star, the Conspicuous Service Medal, and lost his life in Iraq. Imagine the courage, the daring, and the genuine sacrifice – genuine sacrifice they all made,’ Biden said then.

Biden was in Florida to take on the Republicans with just one week to go before the midterm elections. 

The Washington Post columnist also called for Biden’s vice president to bow out of the 2024 race, as he recounted several instances in which, according to him, sounded like ‘someone giving a book report on a book she has not read.’

‘Her style betrays a self-satisfied exaggeration of her aptitudes. Lacking natural talent, she needs to prepare, but evidently doesn’t. Complacency and arrogance make a ruinous compound,’ he wrote. 

Last month, critics tore into Harris for her comments reflecting on the nostalgia of riding a ‘yellow school bus’ at an event unveiling a program aimed at reducing emissions by replacing diesel buses with electrical vehicles.

Speaking at Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington last week, the vice president asked ‘who doesn’t love a yellow school bus?’ in front of a backdrop of four electric school buses. 

Critics said she sounded more like a teacher speaking with young children than a vice president delivering remarks on a presidential initiative. 

Radio host Clay Travis said the spectacle proved the administration cannot ‘let her talk in public.’

‘Democrats have been hiding Kamala, but she just had a press conference and talked about yellow school buses and my goodness they really can’t let her talk in public about anything,’ he tweeted.

‘What in the Yellow School Bus is wrong with Kamala Harris,’ comedian Terrence K. Williams tweeted. ‘LORD JESUS HELP US ALL. She is an embarrassment! Raise your hand if you agree.’

Florida Republican politician Lavern Spicer, who failed in her primary bid for the House earlier this year, tweeted: ‘Guess what Kamala? I don’t love a yellow school bus. I DO love the diesel fuel they run on THAT YOUR PARTY IS CAUSING US TO RUN OUT OF though.’

Gas prices have been extremely high – rising to record levels since Biden took office and Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February.

Republicans have ripped apart the Biden administration and Democrats for hiding environmental issues in funding and spending bills, especially ones that they claim prioritize green initiatives at the expense of taxpayers.

Nearly $1 billion, in part funded through the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure bill, will go towards school districts replacing diesel-powered buses with electric ones.

Biden, who is battling low approval ratings, is spending his last week on the campaign trail trying to contrast how his Democrats will govern versus Republicans as voters prepare to head to the polls on Nov. 8.

He will make his closing argument at stops in New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Maryland over the next seven days.

He’s not the only Democrat hitting the campaign trail. Jill Biden heads to Pennsylvania on Wednesday. Barack Obama, meanwhile, will be in Nevada on Tuesday for Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, who faces a tough re-election campaign and he heads to Arizona on Wednesday to campaign for Senator Mark Kelly.

Trump, meanwhile, will hold a rally in Miami on Sunday although he’ll be campaigning for Republicans in general. DeSantis, who is rumored to a 2024 presidential contender, is not scheduled to appear with him.

Florida has become an increasingly difficult state for Democrats to win. Trump carried it in 2016 and 2020.

DeSantis capitalized on anti-covid sentiments to push back against shut down restrictions and signed legislation against vaccine mandates.

Biden is looking to drive up voter turn out but is staying away from most of the battleground states.

The president hasn’t been to Arizona, Nevada or Georgia – three states that helped put in the White House – nor is he expected to. All three states have closely-contested Senate races.

The president will join Barack Obama in Philadelphia on Saturday to campaign for gubernatorial candidate Josh Shaprio and Senate contender John Fetterman.

With the Senate currently sitting at 50-50 – and Vice President Kamala Harris providing the tie breaking vote – any race could decide which party is in the majority next year.

Virginia officials have launched a war on fentanyl, vowing to greatly reduce the number of deaths from fentanyl in his state.

Gov Glenn Youngkin, a Republican who entered office in 2022, called fentanyl a ‘weapon of terrorism’. 

Fentanyl was responsible for killing at least 70,600 Americans in 2022 and caused more than 1,950 deaths in Virginia alone. 

The synthetic opioid enters the US through the southern border and contaminates the illicit drug supply, ravaging local communities and major cities alike. 

The Republican governor issued a laundry list of initiatives to fulfill his goal of reducing opioid overdoses in Virginia by 20 percent during his term in office.

Gov Youngkin signed the executive order on Tuesday directing the Department of Health to develop a plan for wastewater surveillance ‘to detect the frequency, potency, and occurrences of fentanyl use in specific locations’.

The order also granted individual counties within the state more leeway to secure kits of the overdose reversal ‘miracle’ drug naloxone and directs law enforcement to step up efforts to interdict drug shipments into the state.

It also directed relevant state departments including those for health, social security, and corrections, to improve fatal overdose surveillance, drug interdiction, and public awareness.  

Opioids, particularly the ultra-potent synthetic fentanyl, have taken a significant toll on Virginians, who have seen the number of fatal fentanyl overdoses increase 20-fold since 2013, Gov Youngkin said. 

He added: ‘We cannot stand by as Virginians lose their lives when there are steps we can take to combat this deadly fentanyl poisoning crisis. We must act.’

Richmond, Virginia’s capital, is among the hottest spots for fatal overdoses due to opioids, with 272 deaths in 2022 and 262 of those due to fentanyl.

Fatal overdoses due to all opioids in Virginia in 2022 reached 2,104, slightly down from the 2021 tally of 2,229 but well above the 2019 total, 1,298.

The vast majority of those deaths were caused by fentanyl. 

The drug was introduced in the 1960s as a pain reliever and an IV anesthetic. By the 1990s, drug companies developed fentanyl patches that deposited the medicine into the body through the skin to treat severe pain in cancer patients. 

But it has increasingly been found in the illicit drug supply often as a pollutant in other drugs including cocaine, methamphetamine, and benzodiazepines, meaning many people ingest it unknowingly. 

Just two milligrams of fentanyl, equal to around 10 to 15 grains of table salt, can be lethal.

Preliminary figures from the state show that the synthetic drug 50 times stronger than heroin killed more than 1,950 people last year and more than 2,000 the year before.

John Littel, Virginia’s health secretary said: ‘Today, five Virginians will die from fentanyl. 

‘Tomorrow and every day this year, an average of five Virginians will die from this deadly drug. 

Within the next four months, the state health department will need to devise a cost-effective way to monitor the sewer system for concentrations of opioids including fentanyl and heroin. 

The objective is to use the surveillance data to inform resource allotment, meaning the communities with the highest presence of opiates will get greater access to naloxone and drug treatment options. 

The order also directs the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security to scale up the state’s law enforcement system’s ability to interdict illicit drug shipments into and throughout the state.

Youngkin further ordered a cadre of state agencies such as the Department of Social Services, and the Department of Criminal Justice Services to come up with a more effective, thorough way to record and report fatal and nonfatal opioid overdoses ‘to allow for immediate interdiction, education, and abatement efforts’ in the neighborhoods experiencing the biggest spikes in overdoses. 

Fentanyl has blighted American cities and towns of all sizes. A recent government report shows that fatal overdoses involving synthetic opioid more than tripled from 2016-2021, rising from 5.7 per 100,000 in 2016 to 21.6 in 2021.

In Virginia specifically, that rate is around 22 per 100,000 persons, according to preliminary 2022 numbers. In 2021, it was nearly 24 per 100,000, up from about 19 in 2020.

The fentanyl overdose rate spiked in the first year of the Covid pandemic, having hit 11.3 per capita in 2019, the highest on record pre-Covid.

The rise of fentanyl has especially affected teens in recent years. Analysis of official overdose data show there were just nine fatalities from fentanyl among those aged 20 years and under in 1999. But by 2021, this had jumped to 1,550. 

Virginia is just one of 50 states and DC contending with the scourge of deadly fentanyl on their streets. 

Neighboring West Virginia has the highest death rate of all, coming in at about 91 per 100,000 total population, according to 2021 figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Northwestern Virginia has consistently shown the highest rates of overdoses caused by opioids excluding heroin. But Southwestern Virginia has seen the highest rates of heroin overdoses. 

Spots two and three went to Tennessee and Louisiana with 56.6 deaths per 100,000 and 55.9 deaths per 100,000, respectively.

To address the ongoing crisis, rooted in a long history of poor regulation and malfeasance by the pharmaceutical industry, federal regulators have taken steps to make the nasal spray version of naloxone more accessible to the people who need it, as well as to good samaritans who have it on them in the event that someone nearby begins to overdose.

The appeal of the nasal spray, marketed as Narcan, is a combination of its efficacy and the ease of use. 

The plunger that sends 4mg of misted naloxone hydrochloride up the nose resembles an over-the-counter allergy medicine and it begins to work immediately.

A recent study by Brigham and Women’s hospital in Massachusetts found that over 93 percent of people given naloxone survived their overdose. 

Still, they require additional medical assistance immediately after because the effects do not last long.

When inhaled, the medicine is absorbed through mucous membranes in the nose, rapidly entering the bloodstream and traveling to the brain.

Once there, the medicine competes with opioids attaching themselves to receptors in the brain.

It attaches to the brain’s receptors, replacing the opioid. This blunts the effects of opiates on the brain, stopping an overdose from progressing.

Fentanyl is an incredibly insidious substance, often added as an adulterant to drugs like cocaine, ecstasy, and meth because it is both cheap and powerful and keeps users coming back for more.

But often, users of heroin and non-opiate drugs do not know they are taking fentanyl and may not have naloxone on hand. 

For this reason, the federal government aims to make the antidote ubiquitous without the necessity of talking to a pharmacist everywhere from big box retailers to vending machines.

Analysts predict average household energy bills could fall to below £2,000 a year this summer after a slump in gas prices

By Luke Barr, Financial Mail On Sunday

Published: 16:52 EDT, 6 May 2023 | Updated: 16:52 EDT, 6 May 2023

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.

POPULAR MONEY SECTIONS
Take me to…