What the fentanyl crisis looks like from a Washington state hospital – IOTW Report

What the fentanyl crisis looks like from a Washington state hospital

JTN

As Washington state faces an ongoing fentanyl overdose crisis, state lawmakers have proposed many fixes to the problem, from making simple possession a felony again to cracking down on pill production machines.

But what does the crisis look like at the local level, out of the halls of Olympia?

To get a measure of this, The Center Square interviewed by email Dr. Raul Garcia. He is the medical director of Astria Toppenish Hospital in Toppenish, Washington as well as the executive director of the nonprofit Opportunity for Washington, a group that weighs in on drug addiction and homelessness, among other issues.

TCS: From the perspective of an emergency physician in Washington state, how bad is the fentanyl problem?

Garcia: Throughout my 25 years serving as an emergency physician, 16 in Central Washington, I have never seen a crisis develop and then multiply as drastically as fentanyl overdoses have. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 107,375 people in the United States died of drug overdoses and drug poisonings in the 12-month period ending in January 2022 with 67 percent of those deaths involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Here in Washington State, overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids, mostly fentanyl, have increased 10-fold just over the past year—and I’ve seen it firsthand.

Why is fentanyl so deadly? MORE

6 Comments on What the fentanyl crisis looks like from a Washington state hospital

  1. Politicians such as ‘Empowering’ Kickback Kathy Hochul, Charles Schumer, Joe Biden and the rest of the sludgy swamp cretins have made it their business to profit from the illegal drug trade. Global drug dealers know perfectly well they must get the permission of senators and governors to operate in statesand cities for without the go-ahead they won’t be protected from prosecution and imprisonment.

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  2. I would be greatly surprised if practically every elected official in a metropolitan area or Democrat pocket in Washington State isn’t on the take. The Mexican cartels certainly don’t have any qualms setting up and operating “homeless camps” that are nothing but fronts for drug and sex trafficing strip malls.

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  3. More population reduction with the bonus of making millions?

    One would think the government wouldn’t turn to this, but that’s assuming that government’s on the side of the people.

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  4. 107,375 people in the United States died of drug overdoses and drug poisonings in the 12-month period ending in January 2022 with 67 percent of those deaths involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
    ———————

    That’s 107,375 that won’t be be taking up vital resources for their stupidity. All self-inflicted suicide. Made some extra business for the undertakers.

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