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The opioid epidemic is considered the deadliest drug crisis in U.S. history. The Trump Administration recently declared a public health emergency to deal with the epidemic. In Nevada, opioid overdoses were the leading cause of drug-related deaths in 2015. According to the National Vital Statistics System, 619 Nevadans died of a drug overdose that year and 68% of those deaths were from opioids.In this series, Reno Public Radio’s health reporter Anh Gray tours a treatment facility, and talks with substance abuse experts, patients and others to get the scope of the problem and explore some solutions.

Nevada AG Commits Nearly $2M To Combat Opioid Epidemic

NPR

Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt recently received bipartisan approval for a nearly $2 million opioid initiative. Reno Public Radio’s Anh Gray reports.

About one Nevadan dies each day from a drug overdose. Laxalt’s office has outlined a plan to address the opioid epidemic. Priority areas focus on law enforcement concerns and prevention.

 

 

To dispose of drugs that have been seized or gathered during medication collection programs, the state will purchase and install five drug disposal incinerators. They’ll be placed at law enforcement locations throughout the state. In addition, a full-time criminal investigator will be assigned to the FBI’s opioid task force.

 

Funding will provide first responders with Naloxone, a drug which reverses the  effect of opioids. Programs will include education throughout the state, like after-school drug prevention programs.  

 

This initiative come from a more than $5 million Volkswagen settlement in 2016 for faulty emissions.

Anh Gray is a former contributing editor at KUNR Public Radio.