Huge leap in heroin, methamphetamine deaths

Mary Bruno

Mary Bruno Jun 28, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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          <article>
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                <h1>Huge leap in heroin, methamphetamine deaths</h1>
                <h2><p>Heroin overdoses jumped 58 percent in King County last year, according to a new report by the University of Washington's Alcohol & Drug Abuse Institute, which found the rise in local drug-induced fatalities to be the sharpest in 17 years. "Distressing" is how Caleb Banta-Green, affiliate</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/mary-bruno-crosscut-com/">Mary Bruno</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>Heroin overdoses jumped 58 percent in King County last year, according to a new report by the University of Washington's Alcohol &amp; Drug Abuse Institute, which found the rise in local drug-induced fatalities to be the sharpest in 17 years. "Distressing" is how Caleb Banta-Green, affiliate associate professor of health services with the UW School of Public Health, described the trend for <a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/heroin-deaths-spike-nearly-60-percent-in-seattle-area/?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org"><em>The Seattle Times</em></a>. “I knew it was going to go up," he told <em>The Times</em>. "I didn’t know it was going to go up that much.” Deaths from methamphetamine soared by 59 percent.</p>
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Heroin overdoses jumped 58 percent in King County last year, according to a new report by the University of Washington's Alcohol & Drug Abuse Institute, which found the rise in local drug-induced fatalities to be the sharpest in 17 years. "Distressing" is how Caleb Banta-Green, affiliate associate professor of health services with the UW School of Public Health, described the trend for The Seattle Times. “I knew it was going to go up," he told The Times. "I didn’t know it was going to go up that much.” Deaths from methamphetamine soared by 59 percent.

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By Mary Bruno

Mary was Crosscut's Editor-in-Chief and Interim Publisher. In more than 25 years as a journalist, she has worked as a writer, editor and editorial director for a variety of print and web publications,