COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — Within the Coeur d’Alene Police Department, there is a small task force that aims to lower the number of people dying each year from drug overdoses.
The Opioid Task Force has been around for a little less than a year. It is a small department of two people with a big job.
“We respond to overdose calls and provide assistance as needed,” said Coeur d’Alene Police Chief White. “We provide training for first responders and we coordinate and engage nonprofits, health districts and school staff for training resources and then finally, we conduct investigations into illicit opioid trafficking and distribution.”
The task force says in 2024, 42 people died from drug overdoses in Kootenai County. That is higher than in 2022 or 2023.
“You can’t unhear the sound a parent makes when they find their 15-year-old,” said Coeur d’Alene Police Department’s Eric Boardman.
The department received 123 calls for overdoses and saw six deaths from fentanyl last year. Boardman says that is six too many.
“The national average is 1 in 3,600 die from fentanyl overdose,” Boardman said. “Coeur d’Alene it’s 1 in 9,600. I consider that a pretty big win but 6 (overdose) deaths last year is too many.
Sayrd Iverson is the community outreach coordinator at Ideal Options, an addiction treatment center for the area. She says drug addiction doesn’t discriminate.
“It’s in the younger population. It’s in grade schools and middle schools, but it’s also in the aging population,” said Iverson.
One thing she says that can be done to get that number down is education.
“Education, not just for those that are currently in addiction but for family members and community members,” Iverson said. “Help people understand that treatment is available, that Narcan is available, that having those things and utilizing the resources that are there is going to be really important as a community to fight the opioid crisis that we’re seeing.”
Ideal Options says the resources provided through programs like the opioid task force are helping fight the opioid epidemic.
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