It is1 31am in it is 1 31am in the morning in london. Now on bbc news click. This week a crisis sweeping america, a Public Health emergency. Can Technology Help prevent drug overdoses and fight the Opioid Epidemic . Theme music a request for an ambulance at manchester. We have a patient in the bathroom, he has overdosed. He is not breathing, overdose. America is facing the worst Public Health crisis in its history. It is a horseman of the apocalypse, and it is the one named debt. 70,000 of its citizens are dying every year from drug overdoses named death. Citizens are dying every year from drug overdoses named death. Im not doing nothing except sticking a needle in my arm, every day, all day long. Its a waste of everything. Around three quarters of those are the results of an opioid addiction. It is the number one killer of americans under 50 and it has reduced the average life expectancy. We go out on these types of patrols over and over and over again, all day long. Can you get up . By the end of this programme, three lives will have been lost due to opioid overdoses. It is a crisis widely blamed on the over prescribing of pain medication. The addictive nature of which has left many of those turning to the street when their prescription dries up. Those turning to the street when their prescription dries upli those turning to the street when their prescription dries up. I was 16 years old and got my wisdom teeth out. They prescribed vicodin, and i was like, what is this miracle . These things are amazing. In the end i ended up now synthetic mp like fentanyl are being imported in bulk from china and cutting with heroin. Are being imported in bulk from china and cutting with heroinm isnt heroin that is killing our people, it was like sentinel. It is an issue affecting every corner of society. Wake up. Fentanyl driving up society. Wake up. Fentanyl driving up into new hampshire, polluting our communities. President trump has declared it a national Public Health emergency. We will and this terrible manners. We will smash the grip of addiction. Last year, the food and Drug Administration in congress pointed the finger at the tech giants for fuelling the epidemic by not removing advertisements for the illicit sale of opioids on their platforms. America is in the middle of one of the worst epidemics it has ever experienced, yet your platform is still being used to circumvent the law and allow people to buy highly addictive drugs without a prescription. What we need to do was build more ai tools that can proactively. You said before you would take them down, and you havent. We have a whole programme. And we have given nick the whole so to investigate this. Ive spent the last few months looking at this usually pressing issue which is sweeping america, but what is important is it isntjust an american issue. We are beginning to see the full extent of this year in the uk on our shores, where one quarter of us are being prescribed potentially addictive medication. In the states, i wanted to look at whether Technology Companies are really contributing, or, as Technology Companies and their ability to innovate, could provide a solution to the adamic. And the first point of call was an online forensic blood in the south of the usa. Forensic blood in the south of the usa. Forensics lab. Gary warner and his students monitorfor illegal activity online. Some of these stu d e nts activity online. Some of these students are investigating terrorism, some are working on financial crimes. Their pioneering expertise in Computer Forensics financial crimes. Their pioneering expertise in computerforensics has helped the fbi, cia and facebook, the virtual home of more than half of americans. They realise they have a problem with drugs being sold on the platform. Weve been working to eliminate terrorism on the platform for some time. I think weve taken the same approach. They said what can you do to help us . They flag thousands of websites to officials which they believe sale Illegal Drugs. Eyebrows social media for people who sell drugs on social media. They usually comment on drug use ares posts. Uses posts. In the comments there will usually be someone the comments there will usually be someone trying to sell them drugs. One of us would find thousands of accou nts one of us would find thousands of accounts every day involved in some way, hundreds of different websites stop it is a lot to look out. I look at the worst parts of the internet, like, that is ourjob. We are paid to do that. Research chemicals other is to do that. Research chemicals other is the term they use. To do that. Research chemicals other is the term they use. It is really people looking for an individual dose on social media. What is on your screen there . individual dose on social media. What is on your screen there . I have a lethal dose of encinal next to a 2p. Two mg is enough to kilogram man. 2p. Two mg is enough to kilogram man. Lethal dose of fentanyl. People are trying to buy painkillers, they are going to a site that looks like an online pharmacy, not realising that is not a legitimate pharmacy and buying the drugs without a prescription. Theyre having very successful dealings that way. The problem is when you get it, it isnt a properly regulated drug. You dont know where it came from. When you buy a drug online without a prescription from an illicit pharmacy, you are really rolling the dice with your own safety. You have been doing this line of work for a few years now. How much of this is work and how much of this is personal . So, yeah, we will go there. Ok. I lost my daughter to harrowing. Heroin. She was a troubled kid and she got involved with heroin and she committed suicide when she was high one night. She was 19. Um. If this lab can help. Somebody else not lose their little girl, or their son, that is a worthwhile cause. Wow. Yeah, when i asked gary that question, i didnt know how close he was to that issue. Losing his daughter. But a lot of people drawn to this line of work are personally connected. They have had families that have gone through that. Right. So weve established social media makes it easier for people to find drugs. Im assuming gary warners lab could do more thanjust drugs. Im assuming gary warners lab could do more than just flag posts to facebook . Users searching for drugs in america now on facebook are redirected automatically to government run support websites. But as garys team told me, with a lot of these adverts appearing in peoples comment sections or private, closed groups, they are actively searching for drugs. These links might appear actively searching for drugs. These links mightappearand actively searching for drugs. These links might appear and they may be redirected to websites that sell the drugs. But with 500,000 comments being posted to facebook per second, and for people to just create new profiles to oversize drugs online once their old ones i shut down, it is kind of an Impossible Task to keep up old ones are shut down. They just keep up old ones are shut down. Theyjust come keep up old ones are shut down. They just come up keep up old ones are shut down. Theyjust come up under a different name after being shut down, but im not sure if its one person or a scam or a big organisation. Now have about 15 so different accounts. And, run by the same person because they have the same phone numbers. People used to sell they agree on facebook. Get rid of the word viagra and variance of it, and people said oh, i guess i can sell viagra on facebook and they quit. The criminals, drug dealers and users, all getting very creative with how cani all getting very creative with how can i describe my product im seeking or selling in a way that getting around the censors. They have 0s in places of 0s. Whatever terms we put in, they come up with other ones. We have 1695 keywords. They say they should just hire more content moderators. No, if you had an infinite number of content moderators, you would almost need one for every person on facebook. They have to go for it in an algorithmic way. Garys team are developing software to automatically scoui developing software to automatically scour the web for fentanyl, itll previously used the Homeland Security investigations. We go visit one of these sites, five fentanyl pills between 200 980. We didnt look for that, we found it by the big magic still giving us a list of sites that scored high for fentanyl keywords. The average user experience, it is harder to find drugs than ever on these online platforms, but it is still possible. And even if we multiply the amount of money we spent, it will still be possible because that is how facebooks scale works. Possible because that is how facebooks scale works. Not only facebook, twitter has also come underfire for facebook, twitter has also come under fire for advertising Illegal Drugs for sale. We dont need to have our social media promoting the use of Illegal Drugs to our children and family. I agree with you that this is unacceptable and we will act. Lauren culbertson had of twitter lauren culbertson, head of twitters public policy. We have taken down of twitters public policy. We have ta ken down thousands of twitters public policy. We have taken down thousands of tweets and that number is growing by the day. As well as deleting tweets, twitter has partnered with the Drug Enforcement administration on takeback days, when americans can safely deposit their unwonted opioid medication unwanted. Safely deposit their unwonted opioid medication unwanted. We are working on a search pump where people would be directed towards services and we should be there soon. Officially twitter has championed freedom of speech, he doesnt want to get too heavy handed with censorship. Is that i had to change its policy with regards to the Opioid Crisis . Illegal has a lwa ys the Opioid Crisis . Illegal has always been against our terms of service. We enforce that. Content moderation is really tricky and you have to strike the right balance. While we want to enforce against illegal drug sales, we also want to make sure we arent over correcting in censoring the people who are talking about the Opioid Crisis. And this is the problem they always hit, isnt it . The idea they might dart accidentally censoring useful conversations as well . Google is facing a similar condoned room. Theyve been under pressure by the government to do more here similarconundrum. Government to do more here similar conundrum. They could be potentially masking life saving information in the guise of advice or information. But Tech Companies are doing some good things . For the last drop day, and the next one is happening next month, google updated its maps project, to include locations where people can safely dispose of unwonted medication or drugs. Amazon has updated alexa so users searching for information about the Opioid Epidemic, the result they received back, because you only get one answer on smart speakers, it the best information. More from nick after the latest tech news with lara. It provides the best information. Hello, and welcome to the weak intake. It was the week a former Google Engineer who worked with the us military programme reject maven, calls for laws to ban killer robots from war zones before they cause mass atrocities. American researchers claim an algorithm despite twitter bullies has 90 accuracy. The tool from Hampton University could help social media platforms track down abuse. And a robot surgeon is being launched into the nhs before an international rollout. Flexible bots have joints similarto human arms. Rollout. Flexible bots have joints similar to human arms. They will have specialists complete operations using just a few small incisions rather than one big one. The us air force is adding smart glass to its vr plane maintenance and operations training. The aim is to help staff really get hands on. Made by bebop sensors, these gloves use powerful haptic sensors, these gloves use powerful ha ptic feedback tag sensors, these gloves use powerful haptic feedback tag which lets users feel vr interactions with a six ms response time. And finally, this slippery underwater robot is actually meant to be rather scary, if youre a mosquito fish, that is. So far, net, you have been looking at how social media is basically clearing up its own mess and policing the online sales of opioids on social media platforms. But there are new ways that a new technology is able to help the Opioid Crisis, too. The first thing i wanted to look at was are there any solutions out there that can stop people from dying right now . Like safe consumption sites. Better places that people can go to inject themselves with drugs they have got hold of elsewhere and use them under the supervision of Healthcare Professionals so that in the event that they do overdose, staff can step in. They are not really open in the us because some question the ethics behind them, they might not wa nt ethics behind them, they might not want them opening up in their neighbourhoods. But there are ongoing legal battles to help start them up there. The one that we visited in vancouver, canada, called inside, has been open for 15 years and to date, not a Single Person has died there. And that centre has been actually the Training Ground for a new smart phone system that tries to replicate the human supervisor but using technology. Lets take a look. Over in seattle, researchers are developing an app called a Second Chance that utilises the microphone and speaker to automatically detect people on the brink of overdose. The fundamental problem with opioid overdose is that people die alone or they die with bystanders who are unable to recognise and help them. When people experience and overdose, they have dangerous breathing and so they have dangerous breathing and so the software is able to convert the phone into a breathing monitor. It does that i using the microphone and the speaker and it turns it into a sort of a short range sonar. Like a dolphin or a submarine, it is able to send out tones that cannot be here heard by uri but it can be heard by the microphone and those can be used to identify breathing pattern. You or i. It can detect dangerously low breathing and send out a location so they can report to the scene. How effective was it . Out a location so they can report to the scene. How effective was mm was 97 sensitive for people who had experienced this dangerous type of breathing. We think that using a device that most people already have isa device that most people already have is a way to reduce stigma. It doesnt identify you as having opioid use disorder because everybody carries a phone. The other thing that people often dont realise is that people with opioid use disorder, it is like a disease and they still want to be safe when they are engaging in this high risk behaviour. Well hopefully this is an app that you never have to use the stop hopefully addicts will come off the drugs before that happens. What have you seen it that might help in rehab and recovering . One of the problems that people face, once they come out of rehab, it is hard to them to stick to some sort of recovery plan. There is an app out there called we connect which allows people to set goals and achieve them. Then they can receive amazon if vouchers so it incentivises them to keep on track. It also acts as a monitoring tool for clinicians to keep tabs on their patients. Checking where they are and checking if they have checked into the local clinic, if they have gone to the therapy sessions and also how likely their patients are to relapse so they can intervene sooner. Another app allows people to video themselves taking the treatment medication so they dont have to physically go for their doctors for physically go for their doctors for physically observed therapy. They said that make sense the recording through the app and they are then verified from a Healthcare Worker who monitors their progress. The start up is also looking at rewarding users but with some cash. Over and above all of these, there isa over and above all of these, there is a question on whether or not people will actually use these apps. When i spoke to a man in rehab, he thought otherwise. May be in full swing addiction, pulling out an app and using it, that is probably a pipe dream. I want something that is automatic that i dont have to do on my own and if that is doing it, that is cool. Green map you are looking ata is cool. Green map you are looking at a retention rate of about 5 at at a retention rate of about 5 at best after 60 days. So what is happening is you are asking people to take effort to do something that they are already struggling to do so taking effort to engage in something. The centre on addiction has started a discovery. We found that it has started a discovery. We found thatitis has started a discovery. We found that it is highly correlated with how many times someone touches their phone to stop it is correlated with the way in which people charge the battery. In whether they plug it in during the day at one time at night or if they charge it randomly throughout the day at different periods. Understanding these behavioural patterns is going to provide an opportunity for us to intervene just in time without someone intervene just in time without someone having to do anything. We know that people disclose way more information to digital platforms than to humans so people disclose more drug use, hiv status. People disclose more sexual partners to a digital plat on to a human and men disclose fewer sexual partners to a digital platform to a human. It is a good indication of where we are in terms of how we work with digital platforms. The theory that people open up more to technology have been looked at on the outskirts of nashville. They are trying to make it more accessible. Noah robinson is using Virtual Reality to Better Connect with his patients. Get up here. All right. Can you hear me . By meeting in a Virtual World as digital avatars, noah has found his patients are more receptive. What other feelings . They are a little bit of anger, i guess. There is some sadness. Ijust bit of anger, i guess. There is some sadness. I just feel crazy. Bit of anger, i guess. There is some sadness. Ijust feel crazy. His relationship with drugs started as a young age and got worse, ending with using opioids. One of the things in vr is the ability to draw out things usually so he can draw them out and remember them. What is the most likely explanation . This is completely untrue and these are likely to be the ones that are the reasons why. I am always amazed when i get here and step back and look at it all how ludicrous it sounds in my head. Just to see it laid out, it just all makes sense. We are still in the exploration rephase but people are able to leave their current environment which is the context of automatic thoughts and negative emotions and when they come into the virtual environment, they feel more regulated and it is kind of like this thing they are able to experience. It is just of like this thing they are able to experience. It isjust wild. Itjust really takes you into a different world right away. Lim then if i teach them how to handle their automatic negative thoughts or negative emotions when they are not actually experiencing them, it seems like it sinks and more effectively and when they come out of the vr, they are able to remember. I taught them to visualise the model and things like that. When i put the mask on, i immediately calmed down so mask on, i immediately calmed down solam in mask on, i immediately calmed down solamina mask on, i immediately calmed down so i am in a world that is so distracting, it takes me out of the thought i have been obsessing about for1. 5 thought i have been obsessing about for 1. 5 hours. It takes the thought out of my head that is a real belief syste m out of my head that is a real belief system at that time and put it on the board and i can kind of look at it. This isjust the board and i can kind of look at it. This is just the the board and i can kind of look at it. This isjust the beginning of trials. So far it is a single effort and noah is yet to determine the effectiveness of these methods but the initial sessions have proved promising. It was actually much more therapeutic for me in Virtual Reality. Eventually noah would like to roll this out so people in recovery could receive support remotely. People go into vr on a daily basis, it is notjust novelty, they are forming real social connecting connections and supportive relationships and if we can translate that to the world in substance disorders and addiction, we can make a dent in the Opioid Crisis. The men here are only visitors. After a month of rehab, they are released back into the world was not having Something Like this that they could access from home could possibly help them stay sober. I really hope it works out for them. Sober. I really hope it works out forthem. Ok, sober. I really hope it works out for them. Ok, neck, sober. I really hope it works out forthem. Ok, neck, thank you sober. I really hope it works out for them. Ok, neck, thank you so much. Brilliant reporting, really interesting and i hope you found it informative and useful, too. If you have been affected by drug addiction, maybe it is you, maybe it is someone that you know, help is out there. You can talk to frank which is the nhss confidential Advice Service for addicts and their carers. The phone number is on the screen and the website as well. You can screen and the website as well. You ca n co nta ct screen and the website as well. You can contact us through the usual social media channels. And you very much for watching and we will see you soon. much for watching and we will see you soon. Thank you very much. Hello. Friday brought a lot of sunshine to a lot of places across the British Isles and i dont think were going to see a radical change for many areas on saturday. Simply because the overall pattern is pretty similar. High pressure in the continent, low pressure in the atlantic, therefore, we are still tapping into this run of south easterly airs and quite strong winds at times, up from the mediterranean, through the near continent and into the heart of the British Isles. That is dry air so we are not seeing an awful of cloud for most of us just at the moment. The exceptions to that, the Northern Ireland s and later in the day, the first signs of the atlantic front trying to cloud things over in the south west. An onshore breeze from the north sea will keep the eastern coast down at about 15, 16, 17 but come inland, 20 plus is widely available. Through saturday night and on into sunday, the first signs of the change in that the High Pressure drifts further away and in comes the front from the atlantic. That will set the tone for sunday. Before the persistent rain arrives, we will have some quite sharp showers and maybe the odd under storm gradually drifting up the spine of the British Isles and then the front makes progress away from the western fringes ever further towards the north and east and to avoid that rain, some of it quite heavy will have to be that further north and east. Still, the temperature in excess of 22 23 degrees or so towards the east but fresh air is coming in from the atlantic and that sets the tone for the start of next week. Monday, not too bad. The rain from sunday gradually eventually clearing away from that far North Eastern corner of scotland and then a lull in proceedings and then late in the day, more signs of the next belt of wet and windy weather pushing in from the atlantic into the south western quarter of the British Isles. Not cold by any means but the temperature is back on what we have seen at the weekend. And then as we move from monday into tuesday, that area of low pressure becomes pretty resident out towards the western side of the British Isles and at times, through the next few days, it will be throwing these belts of cloud and wind and rain across many parts of the British Isles. Its all going to be quite mobile so it wont rain persistently anywhere for the whole day but while that rain is around, you will notice it, this is not showers, thisis belts of rain moving in from the atlantic. And there is not a great deal of difference as we go from tuesday into wednesday. Low pressure still out towards the west of the British Isles, still with these weather fronts working their way in and at times, some really quite strong winds. Quite a change on the way. Welcome to bbc news, im reged ahmad. Our top stories protesters around the world take to the streets in a global call for action against climate change. 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