drug overdoses

The awareness campaign for responsible prescription drug use features the faces of local miners in Utah's Emery and Carbon counties.

The latest Utah news from Friday morning, Jan. 14, 2022

Fentanyl test strips and better data may be a few of the many solutions to the opioid epidemic and the Mountain West's spike in overdose deaths.

Pills that are laced with fentanyl or contain nothing but fentanyl are coming into the Mountain West via the border with Mexico. About a quarter of the fentanyl pills seized by the DEA have had enough fentanyl to kill.

In the high-stakes fight against fentanyl-induced drug deaths, one remedy is fairly simple: blue and white strips of paper. Fentanyl test strips work like a pregnancy test. One line shows up if there’s fentanyl in a solution. Two lines if there’s none. But where are they needed most?

A partnership between Utah Naloxone and law enforcement that started in 2016 has helped officers save 500 lives so far.

Last year, Utah lost almost as many people to drug overdoses as the number of people who live in the town of Corinne in Box Elder County. Six hundred and…