0:14

I'm Beth Bennett. This is how on

0:16

Earth the KG new sign show.

0:19

Today is Tuesday, January 7th, 2025.

0:21

Coming up, I review the latest

0:23

data on the opiate epidemic in

0:25

Colorado. You'll hear from a FARCologist

0:28

who studies substance abuse, a DEA

0:30

agent who oversees the task force

0:32

on fentanyl, and our state senator

0:34

who discusses legislation at the state

0:37

level. Boulder police did not respond

0:39

to my request to comment.

0:58

By the end of 2023, city police

1:00

in Boulder had recorded 123

1:02

emergency calls for overdoses. Deaths

1:04

from drug overdoses within the

1:06

city totaled 31 last year,

1:08

according to data compiled by

1:10

the county coroner's office. Preliminary

1:12

data for the first eight

1:14

to 10 months of the

1:17

current year show that boulders

1:19

drug epidemic hasn't abated. Although

1:21

city and county statistics for

1:23

2024 are incomplete and can

1:25

vary markedly from month to month.

1:27

By the end of October, city police

1:29

had logged 94 calls for suspected overdoses,

1:31

at least 39 involving fentanyl. From January

1:34

through August, the county coroner's office had

1:36

recorded 15 deaths in the city from

1:38

drug overdoses, the same number as reported

1:41

for the first eight months of 2023.

1:43

Countywide, the coroner's office recorded 40 deaths

1:45

from drug overdoses in the first eight

1:48

months of this year. Three more than

1:50

in the same period of 2023. Because

1:52

data compiled by the coroner's office may

1:55

lag by 8 to 12 weeks, additional

1:57

drug fatalities, 5 so far since

1:59

August. provide a still incomplete picture.

2:01

Nationally drug fatalities showed signs of

2:04

a decrease earlier this year with

2:06

a 10% drop reported by the

2:08

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

2:10

for the 12-month period ended in

2:13

April. A decline attributed to availability

2:15

of nullaxone, further access to treatment,

2:17

anti-drug efforts by law enforcement, and

2:19

increasing awareness of fentanyl risks. In

2:22

Boulder, neither the city nor county

2:24

government are working on addressing the

2:26

area's overdoses or shortage of treatment

2:28

facilities, as the county commissioners rebuffed

2:30

appeals by elected office holders and

2:33

others last year to establish a

2:35

behavioral and mental health treatment facility

2:37

with funds from a sales tax

2:39

extension. Meanwhile, city and county officials

2:42

now confront budget cutbacks that threaten

2:44

existing social welfare programs. State Senator

2:46

elect Judy Amaboli, a leading advocate

2:48

for mental health and addiction programs

2:50

in Boulder and statewide, is concerned

2:53

about the lack of funding due

2:55

in part to cuts in Medicaid

2:57

coverage and Medicaid reimbursement rates for

2:59

mental health providers. She's pushing for

3:02

legislation, including improvements in insurance coverage

3:04

for mental illness and emergency response

3:06

for mental health crises. The county

3:08

coroner's data for deaths from drug

3:10

overdoses show that most occur among

3:13

those who are housed rather than

3:15

unhoused. 40 housed compared with five

3:17

on-house countywide so far this year,

3:19

and that fentanyl and methamphetamines account

3:22

for most drug fatalities with a

3:24

smaller proportion attributed to cocaine. Most

3:26

of the fatal overdoses involve men,

3:28

more than half occur among those

3:31

18 to 44 years old, and

3:33

a small proportion involves suicide. You'll

3:35

hear Judy immobbly talk about current

3:37

and past legislative efforts to combat

3:39

the overdose epidemic, as well as

3:42

some of the underlying factors later

3:44

in the show. Illegal

3:46

drug experts say that opioid

3:48

addiction is an equal opportunity

3:50

problem. It can affect people

3:52

of different races, different socioeconomic

3:54

backgrounds, and different ages. The

3:56

synthetic... opioid fentanyl is no

3:59

exception. It's found across the

4:01

nation and here in Boulder

4:03

County and it's deadly. The

4:05

Colorado Sun, a local newspaper,

4:07

has been tracking fentanyl overdose

4:09

deaths in Boulder County and

4:11

recently reported a total of

4:13

19 fatalities in the last

4:15

nine months. Just a few

4:17

years ago there were about

4:19

100 fentanyl deaths in the

4:21

entire state. It takes just

4:23

two grains of fentanyl to

4:25

kill someone. Fentanyl is added

4:27

to street drugs that are

4:29

shaped and stamped to look

4:31

exactly like legal prescription opioids,

4:33

such as oxycodone. And the

4:35

drug cartels do not care

4:37

about the precision of dosage.

4:39

Fentanyl is cheap to produce

4:41

and cheap for the drug

4:43

user to buy. Someone looking

4:45

to increase their high or

4:47

to experiment with the intoxicating

4:49

feelings of an opioid for

4:51

the first time can be

4:53

just $8 away from death.

4:55

Narcan is a drug that

4:58

can quickly and safely reverse

5:00

and overdose from opioids like

5:02

fentanyl. This drug can save

5:04

lives. It's available over the

5:06

counter at drugstores and Boulder

5:08

County is providing it to

5:10

trained groups for free. Professor

5:12

Robert Valak has studied the

5:14

pharmacology of various drugs of

5:16

abuse, including fentanyl and other

5:18

opiates. He's also the founding

5:20

director of the Center for

5:22

Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research at the

5:24

School of Pharmacy in Denver.

5:26

He's deeply concerned about the

5:28

widespread use or abuse of

5:30

fentanyl. Welcome to the show

5:32

Rob. I'm speaking with Dr.

5:34

Rob Valak and we're going

5:36

to be talking about the

5:38

basic biology of fentanyl. So

5:40

what exactly does fentanyl do

5:42

to the brain and to

5:44

the body? Fentanyl is just

5:46

a really very potent opioid.

5:48

So it does the same

5:50

things to the body that

5:52

weaker or less potent opioids

5:55

like people would be familiar

5:57

with. hydrocodone that's in Vicodin,

5:59

a very commonly prescribed pain

6:01

reliever or even more potent

6:03

oxycodone, which would be in something

6:05

like OxyContin, it acts in the

6:07

same way. It's just much more

6:09

potent than those other drugs.

6:12

So it's a question of

6:14

strength rather than how it

6:16

works that differentiates fentanyl from

6:19

oxycodone or hydrocodone. It's really

6:21

super strong and it acts and

6:24

dissipates really fast. So it has

6:26

a very fast onset of action

6:28

and get you know it does its

6:31

thing very quickly and it does it

6:33

very potently. Okay so does

6:35

it grab onto those opioid

6:37

receptors really fast but then

6:40

detach pretty fast as well?

6:42

Exactly it has a very fast

6:44

onset of action and the fast

6:46

you know the completion of action

6:49

so the curve for this thing

6:51

is just very quick pronounced relative

6:54

to other opioids. Okay, so

6:56

people probably like the feelings

6:58

that they get from it

7:00

because of that intensity, but

7:02

it's very easy to overdose

7:04

because of its extreme affinity

7:07

for the receptors. Both those

7:09

things lead to just those

7:11

exact same things. There's an

7:13

intensity is higher, but also the

7:16

all of the effects are higher. Right,

7:18

so let's get into some of those

7:20

serious physiological effects. So you get a

7:22

high because of the opiate receptors that

7:25

make you feel good. What is it

7:27

that causes the respiratory depression that can

7:29

cause death? You know, the opioid

7:31

itself, it's interesting. It doesn't in

7:33

and of itself make you feel

7:36

good. It's also dopaminergic and it

7:38

stimulates the release of dopamine and

7:40

then glutamateimate, which are both

7:42

the feel-gooded receptor, dopamine. and

7:45

or neurotransmitter dopamine and

7:47

the reinforcing neurotransmitter

7:50

glutamate. So the behavior will reinforce

7:52

her. So both of those get

7:54

highly activated by opioids and more

7:57

so by the more potent opioids. So

7:59

that happens. On the bad side,

8:01

what happens is there are opioid

8:03

receptors throughout your body. The ones

8:05

that affect pain and euphoria are

8:07

in your central nervous system. And

8:10

that's what affects the people's pain

8:12

perception that we're going for with

8:14

pain relief or the euphoria is

8:16

also central nervous system mediated. But

8:18

the problems that you see is

8:20

because there are also opioid receptors

8:23

on your heart and in your

8:25

GI trap. So you can have

8:27

annoying side effects that aren't particularly

8:29

lethal like constipation. So it slows

8:31

down your GI tract. But it

8:33

also on your heart, it slows

8:36

down your rest, your rate of

8:38

cardiac contractility and your breathing. So

8:40

it slows your respiration and it

8:42

depresses some cardiac activity as well.

8:44

So the opioid induced respiratory depression

8:46

is the side effect that leads

8:49

people to have serious and then

8:51

lethal overdoses are because of that

8:53

particular side effect. You do take

8:55

too much. If you can get

8:57

through that initial period of the

8:59

high attachment to the receptor, then

9:01

because it lets go of the

9:04

drug pretty fast, you could potentially

9:06

survive. But if you just take

9:08

too much, which it sounds like

9:10

a lot of the pills that

9:12

are available on the street now

9:14

are just too much for most

9:17

people. And so it kicks them

9:19

over the edge. Their heart slows

9:21

down and their breathing slows down

9:23

and they end up. dying because

9:25

of the respiratory depression. What kind

9:27

of treatments will alleviate or mitigate

9:30

the high dose of fentanyl? There's

9:32

two ways we approach it. There's

9:34

the short term, keep somebody live

9:36

right now, reverse this opioid news

9:38

respiratory depression. That's the first thing

9:40

we want to do. And so

9:43

we do that with a drug

9:45

called Meloxone. Meloxone is another very

9:47

rapid acting high affinity. In fact,

9:49

it has the highest affinity of

9:51

any opioid we know. and it

9:53

basically goes into your system and

9:56

will kick anything else off of

9:58

the opioid receptor. it has the

10:00

strongest affinity for the receptor. So

10:02

it displaces fentanyl or oxycodone or

10:04

hydrocodone or heroin or whatever might

10:06

be there, but it's called a

10:09

pure antagonist or a blocker. So

10:11

it sits on the receptor, but

10:13

exerts no pharmacologic effect whatsoever. So

10:15

all it does is occupy the

10:17

receptor and block something, whereas drugs

10:19

like fentanyl or oxycodone hydrocodone, those

10:21

are agonists. So they go to

10:24

the receptor and they agonize or

10:26

create some sort of activity, which

10:28

is sometimes good for pain reception,

10:30

you know, pain response or sometimes

10:32

bad because it agonizes this respiratory

10:34

depression. Noloxone comes in, kicks those

10:37

drugs off, sits on the receptor,

10:39

and allows those other effects to

10:41

stop happening. So respiratory depression stops,

10:43

and it happens within a few

10:45

seconds of administering the loxone to

10:47

somebody. If you give it to

10:50

them intravenously, they'll respond in five

10:52

or ten seconds to administration of

10:54

naloxone. You give it nasally and

10:56

it has to get absorbed into

10:58

your bloodstream through the through the

11:00

nasal passages. Even then, it's very

11:03

fast. Within usually a minute or

11:05

two, somebody responds and all of

11:07

this overdose is reversed. The trouble

11:09

is naloxone only lasts for a

11:11

short amount of time. So if

11:13

somebody has a high amount of

11:16

an opioid in their system that

11:18

has a longer duration of action

11:20

and the antidote wears off. the

11:22

opioids that are still floating around

11:24

come back onto the receptors and

11:26

then they can put you back

11:29

into respiratory depression again. So you,

11:31

we give Naloxone as an emergency

11:33

reversal drug and then that's the

11:35

first step in getting somebody to

11:37

an emergency room and then into

11:39

a, you know, into some sort

11:41

of monitoring situation where they can

11:44

ride through that. So I take

11:46

it that fentanyl is one of

11:48

those drugs that is cleared really

11:50

rapidly by some kind of action

11:52

in the central nervous system, whereas

11:54

other opioids might hang around for

11:57

longer. Fentanyl is a very rapid

11:59

acting agonist. Nalaxone in our

12:01

can is a very rapid-acting antagonist.

12:04

And does the Nalaxone also vacate

12:06

the receptor quite fast? It does.

12:08

It also has very rapid onset

12:10

and duration of action. So that's

12:13

good because it will really quickly

12:15

reverse an overdose. But it will

12:17

also leave relatively quickly, usually in 30

12:19

to 60 minutes. So if someone's got

12:22

a window of time to then see,

12:24

you know, be transported to medical care.

12:26

So one final question, is Spentnell an

12:29

example of a designer drug that

12:31

was synthesize so as to be

12:33

more potent than some of the

12:35

existing opiates so that it could

12:37

be given in smaller doses in

12:39

a clinical situation. Exactly. It was what

12:41

was what happened. It was designed as

12:43

a drug for given by anesthesiologist for

12:45

surgical use. Pain relief immediately like right

12:48

now I'm about to cut into this

12:50

person as a surgeon. I want them

12:52

to have pain relief on board that acts

12:54

really quickly before I do it. But then

12:56

when the surgery is over, I want that

12:59

fentanyl to go away. if you get it

13:01

out of the surgical setting where you're not

13:03

monitoring somebody and you're not under

13:05

the care of an anesthesiologist is

13:07

when it can become dangerous. Yeah, and if

13:10

you don't know, you're even taking that, you're

13:12

not going to try to calculate how much

13:14

you should be taking and of course that's

13:16

not something that people taking street drugs

13:18

would ordinarily try to do. Right. And

13:21

can't. You know, there's no better business

13:23

bureau for street drugs. You know, you

13:25

can't exactly what is in it or

13:27

exactly what is in it. from batch to

13:29

batch, from dealer to dealer, even within a

13:31

dealer, from batch to batch. Well, Rob, thank

13:33

you so much. This has been very useful

13:36

and helpful, and I think this is

13:38

a valuable source of information for

13:40

our listeners. Happy to be of help, and

13:42

I appreciate all you're doing to give

13:45

coverage to this important issue. That was

13:47

Professor Robert Valak of the School

13:49

of Clinical Pharmacy and Director of the

13:51

Center for Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research at the

13:54

School of Pharmacy in Denver. We spoke

13:56

about the ways fentanyl affects the brain

13:58

and body and the importance of Noloxone,

14:00

brand name Narcan, in treating overdoses.

14:02

David Alaski, the acting special agent

14:05

in charge of the Denver Bureau

14:07

of the Drug Enforcement Administration, spoke

14:09

with how on earth about the

14:11

sharp rise in fentanyl deaths in

14:13

Colorado. If you went back a

14:16

year ago, two years ago, You're

14:18

talking that maybe 10,000 pills or

14:20

even a thousand pill quantities. So

14:22

when someone purchases one of these

14:25

pills, do they have any idea

14:27

that there might be fentanyl laced

14:29

within these pills? No, oxycodone at

14:31

all in the pills. The active

14:34

ingredient is fentanyl. And it's a

14:36

very tiny amount of fentanyl, correct,

14:38

like a matter of grains that

14:40

can kill someone? Right. So two

14:43

milligrams is considered a lethal dose.

14:45

So if you were to picture

14:47

two granules of salt or sugar,

14:49

that is the amount of fentanyl

14:51

that is considered a lethal dose.

14:54

Two of every five pills contains

14:56

a lethal dose. The precursor chemical

14:58

pills nowadays utilized by the Mexican

15:00

drug traffickers to manufacture the pills

15:03

is coming out of the Far

15:05

East, specifically China. They'll manufacture the

15:07

fentanyl there from the precursor chemicals,

15:09

and then they'll take it. and

15:12

mix it up again with some

15:14

cutting agent and then start pressing

15:16

the pills. If you could imagine

15:18

just what the major pharmaceutical companies

15:20

goes through to have standardization of

15:23

product and pills and quality control.

15:25

That's not what's happening down south.

15:27

So is there anything like visually

15:29

that you can tell that it's

15:32

counterfeit? There's no markings that are

15:34

going to differentiate it. We're not

15:36

only seeing these in the blue

15:38

oxy pills. We're also seeing these

15:41

in Adderall pills. where the active

15:43

ingredient is methamphetamine. Are there more

15:45

government programs that are focusing on

15:47

harm reduction? For us at DEA,

15:50

our focus is definitely on investigating

15:52

and targeting those most responsible for

15:54

putting these drugs out on the

15:56

streets in our... community. I've been

15:58

out there with other state and

16:01

local federal law enforcement members. I've

16:03

been trying to with my folks

16:05

engage at all levels of education,

16:07

grammar schools, high schools, colleges to

16:10

get out there and spread this

16:12

word. Earlier today I was looking

16:14

at 2014 time frame across our

16:16

country, we were looking at somewhere

16:19

around 50,000 fatal overdoses per year

16:21

in 2020. Those numbers went up

16:23

to 90,000 hour up to over

16:25

100. Overdoses were happening anyway from

16:28

these other drugs across our area.

16:30

And one of the common places

16:32

that we end up seeing it

16:34

is on Tiktok, Snapchat, some of

16:36

the other social media platforms. And

16:39

then probably the third component, unfortunately,

16:41

is that the prices for these

16:43

drugs are extremely cheap. We used

16:45

to see about a year ago

16:48

that if you were buying one,

16:50

two of these in the Denver

16:52

area you were paying somewhere between

16:54

$15 to $20 a pill. Now

16:57

that price has come down to

16:59

$89. As far as this being

17:01

on social media, what does that

17:03

look like? Oh, there's a combination

17:05

of code words or names that

17:08

these pills go by. We've seen.

17:10

Roxie's or blues because these pills

17:12

look like the M30 oxycodone pill.

17:14

So you'll hear 30s, M30s, Roxie's,

17:17

blues, you've heard Maxie's, you might

17:19

go on to, you know, Craigslist

17:21

and you see a pair of

17:23

blue jeans for sale, that's 30

17:26

waist. Well, that's not a 30

17:28

waist gene that people are trying

17:30

to sell. That's just all the

17:32

code words and lingo for your

17:35

listeners, whether it's parents or... teachers

17:37

or school administrators to think that

17:39

this might not be impacting your

17:41

household, your school, your college. I

17:43

think unfortunately is a little naive

17:46

nowadays because it's not unique to

17:48

any race, it's not unique to

17:50

any age. That was David Alaski,

17:52

acting special agent in charge of

17:55

the Drug Enforcement Administration's Denver Bureau.

17:57

And here's Judy Amabali, talking about

17:59

new legislation in the Colorado State

18:01

Legislature. There will be two bills this

18:03

session that are on that exact topic.

18:06

People do want to take it on.

18:08

You know, we have a governor here

18:10

who's kind of a libertarian and also

18:13

is very interested in tech. So there

18:15

was a bill last year and it

18:17

died in committee and the proponents

18:19

of that bill are bringing it

18:21

back this year. I'm going to

18:24

sign on as a co-sponsor of

18:26

the legislation. But it's going to

18:28

have an uphill battle to get

18:30

passed this, but a social media

18:33

bill last year that is about

18:35

helping parents navigate their kids use

18:37

mandating that these social

18:39

media companies make them aware

18:41

when they've been on there for

18:43

a certain amount of time. Notify

18:46

the parents that is? No, it

18:48

notifies the kid. There was

18:50

a toolkit for parents and then

18:53

there's the thing for kids. One of

18:55

the things that we're not doing, but

18:57

we could be doing, that

18:59

I would like to see

19:01

us do more of is

19:03

involuntary care for people who

19:05

are demonstrating that they don't

19:07

have the capacity to figure

19:09

it out for themselves. So

19:11

a lot of the people

19:14

who are living on the street

19:16

who have serious addiction issues

19:18

are not in a place

19:21

to decide whether or not they

19:23

want or need help. And I

19:25

personally don't believe it is

19:27

a kindness to people to

19:29

leave them on the street

19:31

to die. Was instrumental

19:33

in getting a bill passed

19:36

that made it easier to

19:38

put somebody on an involuntary

19:40

commitment for substance use

19:43

treatment. And I don't think

19:45

we're using that enough. You

19:47

know, my belief is that we

19:49

have to get people who are seriously

19:51

ill into treatment and

19:54

care. with a roof over

19:56

their head, residential care. And

19:58

then from there. We can,

20:00

some people can potentially move

20:03

to a lower level of

20:05

care, assisted living or a

20:08

group home or an apartment

20:10

with supportive services, mental health

20:12

care, behavioral health care, somebody

20:15

to monitor medications, somebody to

20:17

help you get to your

20:20

appointments. That's not what it

20:22

is at all. It's about,

20:25

but it's really about help

20:27

with paying your rent. help

20:30

if you are running into

20:32

a problem with your landlord.

20:34

People want outpatient care, they

20:37

want immunity-based services, and we've

20:39

really done a disservice I

20:42

believe to people who are

20:44

really in need by not

20:47

doing a better job of

20:49

funding and getting people into

20:51

residential treatment. like an addiction

20:54

to methamphetamine addiction, that's going

20:56

to be very difficult. There

20:59

aren't medication assisted therapies. It's

21:01

very hard to stay away

21:04

from that if you're out

21:06

on the street. It's also

21:09

hard for you to make

21:11

it in housing if you

21:13

get placed in an apartment,

21:16

but you have a methamphetamine

21:18

addiction, that's going to be

21:21

very difficult for you. And

21:23

you're probably not going to

21:26

get people who are seriously

21:28

ill, into treatment and care,

21:31

with a roof over their

21:33

head, residential care. We are

21:35

opening up this Ridgeview campus,

21:38

is a place where people

21:40

who are unhoused can go,

21:43

and that will be detox.

21:45

Lions is really geared towards

21:48

alcohol. This place, anything? including

21:50

methamphetamines, which is it's hard

21:52

to find places for people

21:55

with a methamphetamine addiction to

21:57

go. Right, right. Yeah. those

22:00

people as well as opioid

22:02

addictions and alcohol and detox

22:04

treatment and then you can stay

22:07

there for up to two years. As you

22:09

just heard in 2023 more than

22:11

100,000 Americans died from opioid

22:13

overdoses. The most effective way to

22:15

save someone who has overdosed is

22:18

to administer Noloxone but a first

22:20

responder or bystander can't always reach

22:23

the person who has overdosed in

22:25

time. Because many people are alone

22:27

when they overdose, they may not

22:30

receive assistance in time to save

22:32

their lives. Additionally, the new synthetic

22:34

more potent opioids cause overdoses that

22:37

can be more rapid and unpredictable

22:39

in outcome. researchers at MIT and

22:41

Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston have

22:43

developed a new device that they hope

22:46

will help to eliminate delays in treatment

22:48

and potentially save the lives of people

22:50

who overdose. The device about the size

22:52

of a stick of gum can be

22:54

implanted under the skin where it monitors

22:56

heart rate, breathing rate, and other vital

22:58

signs. When it determines that an overdose

23:00

has occurred, it rapidly pumps out a

23:03

dose of nalaxone. The device can successfully

23:05

reverse overdoses in animals. With further

23:07

development, the researchers envision that this

23:09

approach could provide a new option

23:11

for helping to prevent overdose deaths

23:14

in high-risk populations, such as people

23:16

who have already survived an overdose.

23:18

The device uses sensors that detect heart

23:20

rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, and

23:22

oxygen saturation. In the animal study,

23:24

the researchers use sensors to measure

23:26

all of these signals and determine

23:29

exactly how they change during an

23:31

overdose of fentanyl. This resulted in

23:33

a unique algorithm that increases the

23:35

sensitivity of the device to accurately

23:37

detect opioid overdose and distinguish it

23:39

from other conditions where breathing is

23:41

decreased, such as sleep apnea. The

23:43

study showed that fentanyl first leads to

23:45

a drop in heart rate, followed quickly

23:47

by a slowdown of breathing. Using these

23:50

signals, the researchers were able to calculate

23:52

the point at which an eloxone administration

23:54

should be triggered. The device includes a small

23:56

reservoir that can carry up to 10

23:59

milligrams of eloxone. In overdoses detected it

24:01

triggers a pump that ejects the naloxone

24:03

which is released within about 10 seconds.

24:05

They now plan to investigate how to

24:07

make the device as user-friendly as possible,

24:10

studying factors such as the optimal location

24:12

for implantation. The researchers hope to be

24:14

able to test the device in humans

24:16

within the next three years. They're now

24:19

working on miniaturizing the device further and

24:21

optimizing the onboard battery, which currently can

24:23

provide power for about two weeks. This

24:25

study was published earlier this year in

24:27

the journal device. As the

24:30

voices you heard were Professor Robert

24:32

Valak, executive director of the Colorado

24:34

Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention,

24:37

he's also faculty in the Department

24:39

of Clinical Pharmacy at C.U. Denver

24:41

at Anschutz. David Alaski is the

24:44

acting special agent in charge of

24:46

the Denver Bureau of the Drug

24:48

Enforcement Administration, and Judea Mobley is

24:50

our state senator representing Colorado's 49th

24:53

district, which includes Boulder. That's

25:10

all for this edition of How

25:12

on Earth. Shelley Schlander and Joel

25:15

Parker are currently executive producers. I

25:17

produced this week's show and Bonita

25:19

Lee spoke with David Oleski. Our

25:22

theme music was written and produced

25:24

by Josh Cutler. Visit our website

25:27

at How on Earth Radio.org to

25:29

find past episodes, extended interviews, links

25:31

to material referenced in the show,

25:34

and you can subscribe to our

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podcasts through iTunes and follow us

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the KG New comment line at

25:46

303, 447, 9911. For How on

25:48

Earth, the KG New Science Show,

25:51

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