illegal drugs
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]