222 Fentanyl Deaths Recorded In King County Through August

KING COUNTY, WA — King County continues to see more deaths linked to fentanyl, adding on to what is already one of the deadliest years for overdoses on record. Earlier this month, Public Health - Seattle & King County confirmed nearly three dozen fentanyl deaths in July alone, carrying the total well over the previous record of 172 deaths reported in 2020. Overdose deaths involving methamphetamine have risen similarly.

On Tuesday, which was also International Overdose Awareness Day, UW Medicine shared some of the latest data, reiterated the dangers of taking any drugs purchased on the street, and encouraged people to talk to their loved ones and educate themselves about overdose prevention.

Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid, 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine, and is often used to make cheap counterfeit pills. While they are designed to look legitimate, the pills often prove deadly.

"It's usually made to look like pills, so it has this image of safety," said Caleb Banta-Green, an addiction researcher and research scientist at UW Medicine. "But it is profoundly strong and has very, very high risk for both addiction and overdose, and it's really just flooding the market ... If you didn't get that pill from a pharmacy, it is 99% likely to be fentanyl, and there's no way for you to tell."

Banta-Green said purchasing the illicit pills online, or over apps like Snapchat, has made it easier for people to get ahold of potentially deadly drugs, and stressors from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic added a new layer to the challenges.

"If you think about the things that are risk factors for using opioids, [they] are stress and trauma," he said. "If you think about things that are risk factors from dying from an overdose, it's using alone in isolation. Those things are emblematic of really what we're seeing with COVID. So, these things absolutely can sort of intersect and magnify the problems that we see with one or the other."

One way to help prevent further deaths, according to Banta-Green, is by reducing stigma surrounding addiction and becoming acquainted with tools that could prove to be life-saving.

"I encourage people to step back, try not to be judgmental," he said. Recnogize most of us use some type of substance for some purpose in our life. This is a substance that people may be addicted to that is causing harm to them and other people, but the vast majority of people don't want to be using. They want to reduce their use, they want to stop their use, but they're not currently able to access services."

Washington has a few resources available both for people struggling with addiction, along with family and friends who may want to help, including:

• Stopoverdose.org
  • Where to find naloxone in WA State
  • Opioid Overdose
  • Stimulant overdose/overamping
• Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution Program, WA Department of Health: resources on opioid overdose response, Statewide Standing Order for naloxone, and learn more about how your organization can start to distribute naloxone.
• LearnAboutTreatment.org, resources and education on treatments for opioid use disorder and stimulant use disorder.
• Washington Recovery Help Line can connect you with options for substance use disorder treatment including with their medications for opioid use disorder treatment locator.