Posted inColoradans, Health, News, Politics and Government

Colorado hospitals are giving patients take-home doses of the overdose antidote to fight the opioid crisis

When doctors write a prescription for the life-saving antidote to an opioid overdose, patients only bother to fill them about 5% of the time.  But what if hospital physicians simply handed a vial of naloxone to the patients they worry are most likely to die, particularly those who were just rushed to the emergency room […]

Posted inColoradans, Crime and Courts, Health, News

Counterfeit opioid pills made in Mexico pushed Colorado into a third, deadly wave of the opioid crisis

Colorado has entered the third wave — the deadliest wave so far — in the opioid epidemic, as counterfeit opioid pills made to look like real oxycodone or Xanax are supplanting heroin in state drug-smuggling operations, the regional DEA office has warned. The evidence is in the overdose statistics, which skyrocketed in 2020. Overdoses due […]

Posted inCrime and Courts, News

64 members of “international drug trafficking network” indicted by Colorado grand jury

Colorado’s attorney general Friday announced grand jury indictments against 64 members of an alleged “international drug trafficking network” based in Colorado that authorities say moved millions of dollars worth of drugs into and around the state. A total of 159 charges were filed, including counts of racketeering and conspiracy under the Colorado Organized Crime Control […]

Posted inColoradans, Health, News, Politics and Government

Fentanyl overdoses are surging in Colorado as the powerful opioid is disguised as other drugs

For the past several years, law enforcement and public health officials have warned that fentanyl — a potent, synthetic opioid powder causing a spike in overdoses on the coasts — would soon arrive in Colorado.  It’s clearly here, and the statistics for 2020 reveal a drastic jump in use of the drug considered 10 times […]

Posted inColoradans, COVID, Health, News, Politics and Government

Lack of child care prevents moms from getting drug treatment in Colorado. Here comes “RV Honey.”

Rewa Bailey’s office inside a substance abuse treatment center has an infant swing in the corner. Baby gates strategically placed throughout the building corral toddlers while their mothers try to focus on group therapy sessions. And as often as possible, the staff at Aspen Center in Westminster switches out the toys in an attempt to […]

Posted inColoradans, Health, News, Politics and Government

Six RVs to help rural Colorado’s opioid addiction are coming to a parking lot near you

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — The RV will hit the road for a different northwest Colorado town each day, carrying urine toxicology tests, opioid-overdose antidotes, a counselor and a nurse. Sundays at the Mercantile in Hayden. Wednesdays at the Safeway in Fraser. Thursdays at the City Market in Granby. The rig is one of six that soon […]

Posted inCrime and Courts, News

Colorado woman gets prison for fatal heroin sale after U.S. attorney vows to treat overdose deaths as homicides

A Colorado woman has been sentenced to over six years in federal prison for selling heroin blamed for killing another woman. Twenty-four-year-old Kayla Pagano of Westminster learned her sentence Wednesday in Denver in the death of an unidentified woman in May 2018. According to Pagano’s plea agreement, the woman passed out after using the heroin […]