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New York Times Spotlights "Humboldt County's Opioid Crisis"

Saying a "heroin scourge" is "afflicting the region," The New York Times has just published a feature piece on Humboldt County that notes:

"A sharp rise in heroin use has created intense fear among community members and public health officials in Humboldt County, even while California as a whole has one of the lowest overall opioid-related death rates in the country. In Humboldt County, opioid-related overdose rates are five times higher than in the rest of the state."

Times reporters Jose A. Del Real and Inyoung Kang interviewed local elected officials, law enforcement officers, and agencies dealing with addiction and homelessness.

They also visited with local residents addicted to opioids and homeless citizens.

Several local interviewees pointed to a need for State assistance in battling opioids, but Marlies Perez, the chief of the California Department of Health Care Services’ Substance Use Disorder Compliance Division, told the Times, “One of the problems is stigma. We have county supervisors who don’t want a treatment program located in their area.”