fentanyl
Tribal leaders ask Congress for help with fentanyl crisis in Native American communities
WASHINGTON — Leaders of Native American tribes detailed the fentanyl crisis in Indigenous communities during a Wednesday U.S. Senate hearing. “This growing crisis is rooted in the longstanding structural inequities in Native communities,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, who chairs the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she […]
Oregon governor plans to ask Legislature for money to revitalize Portland
This article was originally published by the Oregon Capital Chronicle. PORTLAND – With about six weeks until Gov. Tina Kotek’s secretive task force presents its plan to revitalize Portland at an annual gathering of business leaders, Kotek said Monday she expects to ask the Legislature to open the state’s pocketbooks to help the city. Kotek’s […]
Oregon governor directs state police to crack down on fentanyl, shares few details
Oregon State Police will do more to crack down on fentanyl dealers under new direction from Gov. Tina Kotek, she announced Tuesday. Kotek shared the orders Tuesday at a second private meeting of her Portland Central City Task Force, a group that began meeting behind closed doors last month to come up with a plan […]
Animal tranquilizer xylazine rarely found in WA’s illegal fentanyl, study finds
A powerful veterinary tranquilizer infiltrating the United States’ illicit drug market is only present in a small fraction of Washington’s fentanyl supply, according to a new report. The study, released last week by drug testing laboratory Millennium Health, looks at the presence of xylazine, also known as “tranq,” in about 160,000 urine drug tests across […]
University of Montana working on vaccine for fentanyl, heroin overdose
This article was first published by the Daily Montanan. A vaccine to prevent overdosing on fentanyl and one for heroin are in the works at the University of Montana and partner institutions. Human trials are expected to start in early 2024 for both vaccines, according to UM. UM researcher Jay Evans, who leads a campus […]
Price of illicit fentanyl in WA drops to as low as 50 cents a pill
You can now buy illicit fentanyl on Washington’s streets for as little as 50 cents a pill. That’s according to police and local advocates working with people who use drugs. They say fentanyl is selling for anywhere from 50 cents to $5 a pill, depending on location and dealer-user relationships. In Seattle, the price of […]
Death rates for people under 40 have skyrocketed. Blame fentanyl.
A new Stateline analysis shows that U.S. residents under 40 were relatively unscathed by COVID-19 in the pandemic but fell victim to another killer: accidental drug overdose deaths. Death rates in the age group were up by nearly a third in 2021 over 2018, and last year were still 21% higher. COVID-19 was a small […]
Members of Congress press Inslee on plan to shift dollars away from drug task forces
A bipartisan group of Washington’s congressional delegation has told Gov. Jay Inslee that the state’s plan to divert a sliver of federal funding away from regional crime-fighting and anti-drug task forces “could prove disastrous for Washington.” Democratic Rep. Rick Larsen of Everett sent a letter to the governor earlier this month seeking answers on how […]
Nearly 300,000 fentanyl pills seized in one of King County’s largest drug busts
Police in King County seized $1.2 million in drugs, including 290,000 fentanyl pills, in an operation last week, county officials said Wednesday. The amount of fentanyl seized was equivalent to more than 2 million lethal doses and is one of the largest illegal drug seizures for the King County Sheriff’s Office, according to a press […]
Xylazine or ‘tranq’ in WA: Rising drug threat or an empty one?
Paul LaKosky has about $30,000 worth of xylazine test strips sitting in a room next to his office at Tacoma Needle Exchange. The harm reduction group, which hands out clean syringes and other supplies to people who use drugs, has been testing illicit substances for xylazine since February. But LaKosky, the needle exchange’s director, only […]
White House rolls out strategy to battle deadly drug mixture of fentanyl and xylazine
WASHINGTON — The White House is unveiling a plan to combat the growing threat of drug overdose deaths involving the combination of illicitly manufactured fentanyl and the powerful sedative xylazine, approved only for veterinary use. The plan comes ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris’s meeting with state attorneys general next week to discuss the staggering […]