Ben Botkin

SHUTTERSTOCK

Study: Nearly half of people using opioids in rural areas were recently incarcerated

Oregon Health & Science University author of national study says jails have an opportunity to treat drug addiction

Nov 11

LENA SAMCHENKOVA/UNSPLASH

Oregon lawmakers prep to tackle drug addiction in 2024 session

The legislative committee will look at the addiction crisis from a wider perspective than Measure 110 alone

Oct 17

Three people sit at a table with microphones.

Sarah Holland, a director at Portland-based Central City Concern, (right) speaks about housing and health care with Oregon Medicaid director Dana Hittle (middle) and Marin Arreola, a member of the Governor’s Racial Justice Council. The group spoke about Oregon’s Medicaid expansion at CCO Oregon’s annual conference about health care in Salem. | BEN BOTKIN/OREGON CAPITAL CHRONICLE

Oregon health leaders warn of bumpy start for expanded Medicaid system

Oregon’s new Medicaid plan will offer people help with housing and food as state faces homelessness crisis

Oct 6

Lisbon, Portugal. | LAURA/PIXABAY

Oregon looks to struggling Portugal for answers on drug addiction

Two decades after decriminalizing drugs, Portugal faces some of the same problems that hound Oregon, though on a smaller scale

Sep 19

U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-Oregon, speaks on the House floor on March 10, 2023. | C-SPAN SCREENSHOT

Salinas urges House to eliminate anti-LGBTQ, anti-abortion parts of defense budget bill

The Oregon Democratic congresswoman says “partisan extremists” endanger funding in the bill needed to fight the opioid crisis

Sep 14

Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Nan Waller in her office on Thursday, February 9th, 2023. | JORDAN GALE/OREGON CAPITAL CHRONICLE

Multnomah County judge in center of Oregon’s mental health crisis

Nan Waller, a homegrown judge, helps suspects find mental health treatment while also overseeing hundreds of competency hearings a year

Sep 12

The Oregon Health Authority in Salem. | OREGON HEALTH AUTHORITY

Medicaid patients denied treatment, adding to Oregon’s mental health crisis

A state system that often blocks treatment, with contractors trained by YouTube videos assessing patients, is under review after a whistleblower complained

Sep 4

A man and a woman sit at a table, talking.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra visits with U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Oregon, on Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, in a roundtable discussion in Portland about preventing youth overdoses from fentanyl. Bonamici is planning legislation that would make a prevention curriculum available nationwide in schools. | BEN BOTKIN/OREGON CAPITAL CHRONICLE

Oregon’s U.S. congressional delegation wants opioid prevention efforts to go nationwide

The Health and Human Services secretary visited Oregon on Friday and participated in a roundtable at a Beaverton school

Aug 8

Chris Edwards (front left) and Saihou Suwaneh, two Oregon Department of Human Services workers, participate in a picket in front of the agency’s headquarters in Salem on March 9, 2023. | BEN BOTKIN/OREGON CAPITAL CHRONICLE

Oregon state caregivers ask Gov. Kotek to fire their boss

Department of Human Services workers who care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities say their workplaces are unsafe and that they’re burned out

Jul 25