Brian Mann
Brian Mann is NPR's first national addiction correspondent. He also covers breaking news in the U.S. and around the world.
Mann began covering drug policy and the opioid crisis as part of a partnership between NPR and North Country Public Radio in New York. After joining NPR full time in 2020, Mann was one of the first national journalists to track the deadly spread of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, reporting from California and Washington state to West Virginia.
After losing his father and stepbrother to substance abuse, Mann's reporting breaks down the stigma surrounding addiction and creates a factual basis for the ongoing national discussion.
Mann has also served on NPR teams covering the Beijing Winter Olympics and the war in Ukraine.
During a career in public radio that began in the 1980s, Mann has won numerous regional and national Edward R. Murrow awards. He is author of a 2006 book about small town politics called Welcome to the Homeland, described by The Atlantic as "one of the best books to date on the putative-red-blue divide."
Mann grew up in Alaska and is now based in New York's Adirondack Mountains. His audio postcards, broadcast on NPR, describe his backcountry trips into wild places around the world.
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If the downward trend holds, this year is expected to be the first since 2020 to see overdose deaths fall below the 100,000 mark. However, Black and Native American communities remain vulnerable. -
The White House says big companies like Amazon, the NHL, and United Airlines are joining the push to prevent overdoses by making naloxone widely available. -
Many addiction experts say the supply of street fentanyl in the U.S. is drying up -- a win in the fight against overdose deaths that many experts once viewed as unachievable.
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Street fentanyl has long been viewed as unstoppable. Now many experts say the supply of the deadly synthetic opioid is suddenly drying up in many parts of the U.S. and fatal overdoses are dropping. -
For the first time in more than a decade, overdose deaths are falling sharply in the U.S. Experts say the improvement is so dramatic they're unsure why it's happening - but they're looking for clues.
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After decades of devastating increases driven by fentanyl and other toxic street drugs, overdose deaths are dropping sharply in much of the U.S. The trend could mean roughly 20,000 fewer deaths in 2024. -
Every year at summer's end, volunteers in New York turn historic mountain fire towers into glowing lanterns to honor fire watchers who kept Adirondack and Catskill communities safe for decades. -
A key aide to several high-ranking New York Democratic lawmakers has entered a not guilty plea to working on behalf of China. Linda Sun and her husband allegedly accepted millions of dollars from China.
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Linda Sun worked for Democratic state officials in New York. She and her husband face charges they were also secretly working for China's communist party. They were arrested Tuesday on Long Island.
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Chinese factories churn out many of the chemicals used to make fentanyl that kills 70,000 people each year in the U.S. China's government says new regulations are coming but critics are skeptical.
