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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President Trump signed bipartisan legislation Wednesday toughening criminal penalties for fentanyl traffickers. But some drug policy experts worry about funding for drug treatment and health care.
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CDC staffers worry $140 million in grants could fail to reach state and local overdose programs. The White House officials say the dollars will arrive but won't say when. -
President Trump is expected to sign legislation to toughen penalties for fentanyl traffickers -- but is also withholding roughly $140 million in approved grants to fund fentanyl addiction response.
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Threats to $140 million in funds for public health departments battling fentanyl overdoses comes as some experts see the addiction safety net unraveling. -
Much of the attention on the world's plunging birth rate is on East Asian countries like Japan and South Korea. But Latin American countries, like Chile, are also seeing a decline in fertility.
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Families in the U.S. and much of the world are having so few babies, national populations are set to shrink and age. The trend is changing American politics and fueling the rise of global populism.
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Far more families are choosing to have fewer — or no — children. Many countries, including the U.S., now face a rapidly aging population that could begin to shrink. -
The latest 12-month report from the CDC showed 1,400 more deaths in January of this year compared with the year prior. This comes after more than a year of dramatic progress. Experts say they're not sure if this is a "blip" or something more troubling. -
Purdue Pharma and Sackler family members who own the company have reached a $7.4 billion settlement with all 50 states and U.S. territories over the company's improper marketing of opioids.
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A new $7.4 billion opioid settlement for Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family has been approved by all U.S. states and territories
