People with addictions don’t need forced sobriety; they need agency and connection.
methamphetamine
Jim Morrissey: Meeting the challenge of meth in libraries
Cartoonist Jim Morrissey wonders who would have suspected methamphetamine would pose a threat to one of our favorite public places and open a new front in the war on drugs.
Drew Litton: In some Colorado libraries, meth looms as a monster
Cartoonist Drew Litton laments that Denver metro libraries have had to clean meth residue in their bathrooms, a horror story unfolding in the nonfiction section.
Colorado libraries keep closing for meth contamination. Is it their problem to solve?
Denver metro libraries are spending tens of thousands of dollars to clean up meth residue in their bathrooms.
Boulder is buying a home for people to live in while recovering from methamphetamine addiction
Boulder County repurposed one of its office buildings to provide temporary outpatient drug addiction treatment. Now, they are looking to buy a property for inpatient recovery.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
A deputy’s knack for sussing out mules has made a lonely stretch of I-70 the top drug-bust site in Colorado
LOMA –– A patch of asphalt interrupts the median of Interstate 70 on an empty stretch of scrubby desert 10 miles east of the Utah border. It is a perfect spot for watching vehicles blow through on commutes, vacations, recreational outings, commercial load-hauling trips. And drug smuggling missions. For more than two decades, Mesa County […]
Colorado emergency rooms are trying something new to stem the opioid crisis: addiction treatment
Years ago, when someone struggling with opioid dependency would show up in a Colorado emergency room after an overdose or as they were suffering through withdrawal, doctors and nurses would patch them up and send them on their way. “They came in and we made them feel a little bit better,” said Dr. Jason Hoppe, […]