(Steve Griffin | Tribune file photo) This July 7, 2017, file photo shows a volunteer demonstrating how to use naloxone, an FDA-approved drug that can reverse an opioid or heroin overdose and save lives. Emails obtained by the news organization VICE and by The Tribune show how the state Department of Health asked to use $250,000 to purchase the drug, but instead it went to the surveillance company Banjo. Volunteer Damon Harris shoes users how to use Naloxone, a medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to prevent overdose by opioids such as heroin, as he helps members from of Utah Harm Reduction Coalition as they exchange needles on 500 west between 200 south and 300 south in Salt Lake City Thursday July 27, 2017. Users are able to exchange used needles and also receive Naloxone during the exchange. The state's increased attention to the Rio Grande neighborhood comes as Utah's leading needle exchange provider is under fire for handing out many times more needles than it collects. Mindy Vincent, founder of the coalition, says the goal was never to break even, and that optics aside, needle exchange is proven to reduce the spread of disease among IV drug users.
Taylor covers Utah politics and government for The Tribune, where she has worked since January 2017. A Salt Lake native and Westminster College alumna, Taylor first joined The Tribune team as an intern on a single day’s notice.