OPIOID CRISIS- Washington State’s Response Part 6

The Washington State Attorney General’s Office, Washington State Patrol and the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys have issued a 29-page report with seven recommended goals to reduce illegal opioid use.

The sixth goal is to improve overdose reporting and information sharing. It has three recommendations,

1.      Direct resources toward more timely analysis of samples at the Washington State Toxicology Laboratory.

2.      Require emergency medical service providers to report patient care information, including treatment of overdoses.

3.      Require law enforcement officers to report naloxone administrations.

Data is important to analyzing any situation. Real-time overdose data can help public-health and public safety organizations respond to drug overdose patterns as they happen and to refine their intervention efforts.

Some states have centralized data clearinghouses to collect and disseminate overdose information to law enforcement, treatment and prevention organizations. Currently, the Washington State Toxicology Laboratory within the Washington State Patrol analyzes drug overdose information. It has seen a significant increase in the number of cases submitted for testing. However, there is no centralized statewide testing system in Washington, nor are there requirements for reporting of overdoses by all entities that might be involved with an overdose.

Beginning in July of this year, state legislation requires emergency departments to report overdoses to the state Department of Health (DOH) in real-time. However, as valuable as this information is, the DOH does not receive information about overdoses from emergency medical service providers (fire department EMT’s, etc.) or from local law enforcement.

The report believes that the reporting and testing of drug overdose information should be conducted in real time and should also include emergency medical service providers and law enforcement.

For the complete report, go to,

Washington State Attorney General’s Office:
http://agportal-s3bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/uploadedfiles/Another/News/Press_Releases/OpioidSummitReport.pdf

The first goal is to increase public awareness about the dangers of opioids (http://ssnoccrimewatch.blogspot.com/2017/11/opioid-crisis-washington-states-response.html).

The second goal is to prevent addiction by curtailing overprescribing (http://ssnoccrimewatch.blogspot.com/2017/11/opioid-crisis-washington-states.html).

The third goal is to reduce the illicit use of prescription opioids http://ssnoccrimewatch.blogspot.com/2017/11/opioid-crisis-washington-states_30.html.

The fourth goal is to disrupt and dismantle organizations responsible for trafficking narcotics http://ssnoccrimewatch.blogspot.com/2017/12/opioid-crisis-washington-states.html

The fifth goal is to prevent further increases in overdose deaths from fentanyl

http://ssnoccrimewatch.blogspot.com/2017/12/opioid-crisis-washington-states_2.html