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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2017
Drug crisis sparks lifesaving A US veteran returns a dead
efforts around the region
Japanese soldier’s flag to kin
Some deputies
will carry an
opioid antidote
By AMY NILE
EO Media Group
LONG BEACH, Wash.
— Washington state and Ore-
gon leaders are rolling out pro-
grams in and around Pacific
County that aim to slow the
spread of disease through drug
use and curb the rising over-
dose death toll.
Law enforcement lead-
ers and medical experts are
expanding access across the
county to a lifesaving antidote
that can reverse an overdose
of heroin, oxycodone or other
opioids, natural and synthetic
pain-relieving drugs that are
derived from the opium poppy.
Public health officials in
Clatsop County are work-
ing to reduce harm caused by
addiction by opening two sites
where dirty needles can be
exchanged for clean ones.
Overdoses now kill more
people than traffic collisions.
The National Safety Coun-
cil counts 567 traffic fatali-
ties across Washington state
in 2015. Annual data from the
state Department of Health
show 718 people died from
opioid overdoses.
Nationwide, deaths involv-
ing the use of the pain-reliev-
ing drugs have quadrupled
since 1999, according to the
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. Opioids, such
as fentanyl and morphine,
were involved in 33,091 fatal
overdoses in 2015. Prelimi-
nary data indicate an increase
to about 60,000 in 2016.
The CDC found the amount
of painkillers prescribed
during the year was enough
for every American to be med-
icated around the clock for
three weeks.
Stopping the
spread of disease
A
syphilis
outbreak
spurred Clatsop County offi-
cials to start working on ways
to reduce the spread of dis-
eases through the sharing of
syringes, Public Health Direc-
tor Michael McNickle said.
Two needle exchanges are
expected to open on Aug. 31,
one in downtown Astoria and
another in the Knappa area.
Nurses at the sites will pass
out a clean syringe for every
used one they collect. Specific
times and locations have not
been released.
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McNickle said not all
authorities agree with the idea
of providing clean syringes
for illegal drug use, but law
enforcement has agreed not to
interfere by busting people at
the exchanges. However, he
said, they will shut down them
down if they see drug use
or paraphernalia other than
syringes at the sites.
“None of us want anyone
to be addicted,” McNickle
said. “We’re resigning to the
fact that this is necessary.”
A $50,000 donation from
Friends of Columbia Com-
munity Health will pay for
the first six months of the
program. The needles will
be counted to help determine
whether it’s possible to con-
tinue the exchanges, which
will be the first to open on the
North Coast, McNickle said.
There are 17 others in
Washington state and nine
in Oregon, according to the
North American Syringe
Exchange Network. How-
ever, the program closest to
the peninsula is run on Friday
afternoons in Kelso, almost a
two-hour drive from down-
town Long Beach.
A lifesaving antidote
Peninsula
Pharmacies
co-owner Tom Sutherland
said he can sell syringes with-
out a prescription but he usu-
ally doesn’t. He isn’t comfort-
able supplying them for illegal
drug use.
Sutherland said his six
stores will take used needles
and syringes and dispose of
them safely. But he leaves
it up to each pharmacist to
decide whether to sell them to
people who don’t have a con-
dition that requires medication
injections, such as diabetes.
The pharmacist since 1985
is working on another way to
reduce harm caused by addic-
tion. He’s rolling out a pro-
gram to expand local access
to naloxone, a drug that can
reverse an opioid overdose if
it is given quickly.
The most dire conse-
quences of addiction can be
prevented by making the life-
saving antidote available
when and where it’s needed,
Sutherland said.
“Our goal is to get it into
the hands of the family mem-
bers and caregivers,” who are
dealing with drug users, he
said.
Demand
drives drug prices
The Federal Drug Admin-
istration has approved three
forms of naloxone, an inject-
able liquid, a nasal spray and
an EpiPen-like device that can
be used to deliver a dose by
people who don’t have medi-
cal training.
Pharmacists in Washing-
ton state can now dispense
naloxone to anyone who
wants to have it on hand.
Sutherland is working to help
educate people about the three
forms of drug that are avail-
able and show them how to
use the one that best suits their
needs.
“They’re all on the expen-
sive side. That’s kind of typi-
cal when you have something
that’s needed,” Sutherland
said. “The good news is I am
seeing more insurance com-
panies willing to pay for the
medicine.”
The retail price is about
$170 for Narcan, nalox-
one that comes in kits of two
pre-filled doses that can be
sprayed into the drug user’s
nostril to stop an overdose
fatality.
Living with
a ‘death sentence’
Pacific County Sheriff
Scott Johnson got a grant that
will allow deputies to start car-
rying the pricey antidote soon.
He expects the money from
the National Sheriffs’ Institute
to cover the cost of the Narcan
kits for about two years.
With the lack of local treat-
ment options for substance
abuse and mental illnesses,
law enforcement officers
are often left to handle prob-
lems caused by those who are
struggling with addiction.
“It’s almost like a long-
term death sentence,” Johnson
said. “Just like we see with
mental health, they don’t get
the help they need.”
The county has responded
to 53 calls to 911 for possible
overdoses since January 2016,
coordinator Tim Martindale
Jr. said. That count does not
include those that were deter-
mined by emergency respond-
ers after arriving on scene
to help with a call for some-
one who was having trou-
ble breathing, or was found
unconscious or dead.
Although
medical-aid
crews usually show up before
law enforcement, John-
son said, training deputies to
quickly spot signs of an over-
dose and stop it with the anti-
dote could make a difference.
“If we can save even one
life, it’s worth it,” he said.
Astoria-based
nonprofit was
the inspiration
By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press
HIGASHISHIRAKAWA,
Japan — Tatsuya Yasue bur-
ied his face into the flag and
smelled it. Then he held the
93-year-old hands that brought
this treasure home, and kissed
them.
Marvin Strombo, who had
taken the calligraphy-cov-
ered Japanese flag from a
dead soldier on a World War
II island battlefield 73 years
ago, returned it Tuesday to the
family of Sadao Yasue. They
had never received any of his
remains or belongings — until
that moment.
The soldier’s sister, Sayoko
Furuta, 93, sitting in her wheel-
chair, covered her face with
both hands and wept silently as
Tatsuya placed the flag on her
lap. Strombo reached out and
gently rubbed her shoulder.
“I was so happy that I
returned the flag,” Strombo
said. “I can see how much the
flag meant to her. That almost
made me cry … It meant
everything in the world to
her.”
The flag’s white back-
ground is filled with signatures
of 180 friends and neighbors
in this tea-growing mountain
village of Higashishirakawa,
wishing for Yasue’s safe
return. The signatures helped
Strombo find the flag’s right-
ful owners.
“Good luck forever at the
battlefield,” a message on it
reads. Looking at the names
and their handwriting, Tat-
suya Yasue clearly recalls their
faces and friendship with his
older brother.
The smell of the flag imme-
diately brought back child-
hood memories. “It smelled
like my good old big brother,
and it smelled like our moth-
er’s home cooking we ate
together,” Tatsuya Yasue said.
“The flag will be our treasure.”
The return of the flag
brings closure, the 89-year-
old farmer told The Associ-
ated Press at his 400-year-old
house. “It’s like the war has
finally ended and my brother
can come out of limbo.”
Strombo said he originally
wanted the flag as a souvenir
from the war, but he felt guilty
taking it, so he never sold it
and vowed to one day return it.
He had the flag hung in
a glass-fronted gun cabinet
in his home in Montana for
years, a topic of conversation
for visitors. A U.S. Marine, he
was in the battles of Saipan,
Tarawa and Tinian, which
chipped away at Japan’s con-
trol of islands in the Pacific
and paved the way for U.S.
victory.
In 2012, he was connected
to the Obon Society, an Asto-
ria-based nonprofit that helps
U.S. veterans and their descen-
dants return Japanese flags to
the families of fallen soldiers.
The group’s research traced it
to the village of 2,300 people
in central Japan by analyzing
family names.
Tuesday’s handover meant
a closure for Strombo too. “It
means so much to me and the
family to get the flag back and
move on,” he said.
Corvallis groups ask county
to opt out of timber lawsuit
Associated Press
CORVALLIS — Sev-
eral Corvallis groups are ask-
ing the Benton County Board
of Commissioners to aban-
don a $1.4 billion timber law-
suit against the state of Ore-
gon filed on behalf of several
counties.
Linn County and oth-
ers claim state forest man-
agement policies cost them
money because they blocked
possible logging revenues, the
Gazette-Times reported. Ben-
ton County could be awarded
about $30 million if the law-
suit is successful.
Fifteen local environmen-
tal, outdoor, community and
progressive
organizations
signed a letter that was read to
the board at its Tuesday meet-
ing. The letter argued that if
the counties won the lawsuit,
it could hurt state forests, con-
tribute to global warming and
affect the state’s budget for
schools, social services and
county funding.
“If you sue an owner of a
forest for undercutting and
you win, it’s pretty clear what
the consequences will be,”
said Dave Toler, a Corvallis
resident and former Josephine
County commissioner, at the
meeting.
The board decided in a
2-1 vote in January to stay
as a defendant in the lawsuit.
County Commissioner Anne
Schuster, who voted in favor
of staying in the lawsuit, said
if the counties won, the out-
come of the lawsuit would not
increase logging in the state.
The letter by the groups
referenced Clatsop Commu-
nity College, which was with-
drawn from the lawsuit after
the opting-out period had
already passed. The commu-
nity college was allowed to do
so because it was not able to
hold a meeting with a quorum
of its board members before
the deadline, said Vance
Croney, the county’s coun-
sel. Croney does not think the
court would allow Benton to
leave the lawsuit.
Clatsop County commis-
sioners voted in January to opt
out of the lawsuit.
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