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-elect Donald Trump has promised a crackdown on fentanyl dealers that could include military strikes against cartels in Mexico. Many experts worry his plan will do harm than good. -
President-elect Trump won landslide support in much of farm country, but his embrace of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his plan for a tariff fight with China alarms many farmers and agriculture experts. -
A new CDC report shows at least 16,000 lives were saved over a 12-month period. Experts say the U.S. is experiencing the biggest drop in fatal overdoses seen since the opioid crisis began in the 90s. -
NPR's Brian Mann slipped away from his desk during a hectic week for an early morning canoe paddle on a wild river in Vermont. -
In parts of the U.S., more than half of pregnant women facing severe addiction are also exposed toxic to the toxic animal tranquilizer xylazine, a threat to them, their fetuses and newborns. -
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. -
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. -
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.
