Fentanyl, Cops And Courts: How We’re Addressing The Growing Overdose Crisis

Boise State Public Radio News | By Madelyn Beck

Published August 26, 2021 at 1:13 PM MDT

Jonathan Ellington was athletic and loved to ski. He died at the age of 30 after taking a pill that looked like oxycodone, but was actually fentanyl.

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?

Madelyn Beck

Madelyn Beck is Boise State Public Radio's regional reporter with the Mountain West News Bureau. She's from Montana but has reported everywhere from North Dakota to Alaska to Washington, D.C. Her last few positions included covering energy resources in Wyoming and reporting on agriculture/rural life issues in Illinois.

See stories by Madelyn Beck