The Columbian

Tagged Articles:

Opioids

A vending machine in the lobby of the Clark County Jail offers free opioid overdose reversal medication.

Clark County Jail gets $270K from opioid suit to fund addiction treatment for inmates

May 31, 2024, 6:09am Clark County Health

The Clark County Opioid Abatement Council awarded almost $1 million in grants Wednesday to nine organizations that provide drug prevention, treatment programs and recovery services in 2024. Read story

Doses of naloxone are typically stored at the nurses' station in schools around the district and every security officer carries at least one dose on their person.

Thousands of free opioid overdose reversal kits headed to Washington

May 17, 2024, 11:33am Health

Washington residents can now order free life-saving opioid overdose reversal kits through the mail, the state attorney general's office announced this week. Read story

$50,000 grant from Clark County Opioid Abatement Council will support naloxone vending machines

May 14, 2024, 6:00am Clark County Health

Southwest Washington Accountable Community of Health has been awarded more than $50,000 from the Clark County Opioid Abatement Council to support its network of naloxone vending machines. Read story

Vancouver police Officer Cole Larson talks with a motorist before confiscating a device used to smoke fentanyl and issuing a citation on April 4. Therapeutic drug courts have seen lower participation since decriminalization of drug possession.

Clark County’s drug court is quiet in wake of Blake Decision, say officials

May 4, 2024, 6:10am Clark County News

Drug possession is no longer a felony in Washington as of 2021. Advocates lauded the change, arguing that criminalization of drugs has historically led to disproportionate imprisonment of people of color. However, lighter consequences for drug possession are pushing more people in Clark County to accept traditional sentences rather than… Read story

Members of the Vancouver Police Department respond to a call of a dead person suspected to have overdosed at a homeless encampment near Hazel Dell on April 4. At top, Officer Cole Larson of the Vancouver Police Department confiscates a device for smoking fentanyl from a motorist while on patrol April 4.

People are staying homeless for longer than ever before in Clark County — experts say fentanyl is a factor

April 20, 2024, 6:14am Clark County Health

It was during cleanup of an encampment in east Vancouver two years ago that the city’s homeless response manager realized a dangerous shift had occurred. Read story

Paul Hunter has wounds on his leg consistent with those caused by xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer. The presence of xylazine in Clark County’s drug supply has almost doubled since November, according to Columbia River Mental Health.

‘Tranq’-laced fentanyl nearly doubles in Clark County and expert says it will only get worse

April 12, 2024, 6:05am Clark County Health

Paul Hunter’s legs are rotting. The wounds along his calves, skin and ankles are eating away at his freckled flesh. Every time he takes his socks off, the wounds rip open again. Read story

Tagged Articles:
Opioids

Vancouver man facing federal drug charges in overdose death of 60-year-old

Late-night releases from Clark County Jail leave people on streets with nowhere to go

Rapid response: Vancouver Fire Department launches leave-behind Narcan program

Drugs among the leading causes of death among pregnant women in Washington; PeaceHealth Bloom Clinic hopes to change that