Ariel Boone, Author at The Oaklandside

Candles create a vigil outside the tent of an unhoused community member who was shot in West Oakland—one example of many in which unsheltered people grieve the loss of friends and family members on the street.

‘Invisible’ overdoses are hiding the true scale of Alameda County’s opioid crisis

by Ariel Boone Oct. 14, 2021, 5:42 p.m.Oct. 18, 2021, 9:59 a.m.

Far from being passive victims, opioid users on Oakland streets use Narcan to save each other’s lives by the hundreds each year. But those rescues go uncounted by the government.

Health & Environment

Opioid overdoses are up, posing another health challenge for unhoused people

by Ariel Boone Sept. 14, 2021, 2:39 p.m.Sept. 17, 2021, 8:45 a.m.

As COVID intensifies the overdose crisis in Alameda County and elsewhere, harm reduction advocates step in where government lags.