OPIOID CRISIS- Washington State’s Response Part 7

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 seventh and final goal is to expand access to treatment. It recommends support and expanded statewide and local non-traditional law enforcement approaches, such as drug courts, Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, and embedded social workers.

This goal looks at opioid addiction more as a disease than just a criminal justice problem. As a disease opioid addiction needs treatment. The report points out that there is a shortage of treatment services in Washington State for people entering and leaving the criminal justice system. It also says that there is a shortage in “aftercare” services such as connecting people in recovery to housing and employment.

It points to a 2016 U.S. Surgeon General report that “…nationally just ten percent of Americans facing drug addiction obtain treatment, in part due to limited availability and affordability of services.”

The report encourages continuation of drug courts to use treatment as an alternative to sentencing and supervision when possible. The principle of drug courts "is that treating participants' underlying substance abuse disorder can lower recidivism." Snohomish County has a Family Drug Treatment Court, an Adult Drug Treatment Court and a Juvenile Offender Drug Treatment Court.

Local law enforcement agencies can also help guide opioid addicts toward treatment. In King County the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program diverts people arrested for low-level, non-violent offenses, such as drug possession, minor property crimes, prostitution, etc., into drug treatment and support services instead of into the court system. In Snohomish County, the both the city of Everett and the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office embeds social workers with police officers in its Everett Police Community Outreach and Enforcement Team and the Sheriff’s Office’s Office of Neighborhood’s Homeless Outreach team who find treatment for willing and qualifying homeless.

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

The sixth goal is to improve overdose reporting and information sharing http://ssnoccrimewatch.blogspot.com/2017/12/opioid-crisis-washington-states_3.html

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

OPIOID CRISIS- Washington State’s Response Part 5

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 fifth goal wants to prevent further increases in overdose deaths from fentanyl. Its recommendation is to adopt enhanced criminal penalties for trafficking of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid which can be deadly in small doses. In the Seattle area, fentanyl has been found in what looks like prescription pills that have been purchased illicitly. In other parts of the country, fentanyl has been added to low-grade batches of heroin which is sold as more a potent drug to increase the drug pusher’s profits. When drugs are adulterated with fentanyl the buyers do not know how much fentanyl is in the drug or even if there is fentanyl at all.

A May 2017 study from the Washington State Department of Health (“Fentanyl Overdose Deaths in Washington State”) concluded that there was an increase of fentanyl-related overdose deaths in Washington State between 2015 (28) and 2016 (70).

The Attorney General/Washington State Patrol/Association of Prosecuting Attorney’s report notes that some states have enhanced penalties for drug dealers who have added fentanyl to heroin or other drugs. The report recommends that trafficking fentanyl or fentanyl analogues be added to state law as an aggravating circumstance to allow sentences above the standard range.

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

OPIOID CRISIS- Washington State’s Response Part 4

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.

So far, the report’s recommendations have called on actions by medical and dental professionals, government entities such as DSHS, and the public.

The fourth goal focuses on law enforcement actions to “interdict” the illicit drug trade. The goal is to disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking organizations responsible for bringing narcotics into our state. Under this goal the report has one recommendation, restore resources for multi-jurisdictional drug-gang task forces.

The report notes that multi-jurisdictional drug task forces work to reduce illicit drugs in the community. It highlights recent results from task forces in Grant County and Grays Harbor County.

Drug-gang task forces are federally, and state funded. State funding has declined from $1.6 million in 2006 to $0 starting in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Federal funding has had its ups and downs since 2000. In 2010, Washington State task forces received $6.6 million, while between 2011 through 2017 Washington State task forces received a yearly average of just over $3 million.

Three task forces have disbanded bringing the total of task forces in Washington to 17. Other task forces have limited their operations to match reduced budgets.

Snohomish County has two multi-agency drug task forces, the Snohomish Regional Drug and Gang Task Force and the South Snohomish County Narcotics Task Force.

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.

OPIOID CRISIS- Washington State’s Response Part 3

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 third goal is to reduce the illicit use of prescription opioids. The report has four recommendations under this goal,

1.      Require providers to consult the Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) before prescribing certain controlled substances.

2.      Eliminate paper prescriptions.

3.      Create a statewide medicine take-back system.

4.      Enable investigators in Washington’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit to be appointed as limited authority peace officer for Medicaid fraud investigations.

Two of the major sources of non-medical use of opioids are from doctors and friends or family.

One way to feed an addiction or to sell opioids is to go “doctor shopping,” that is to visit multiple doctors or to fill prescriptions at multiple pharmacies. The state maintains a Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) database that is updated by pharmacists when they fill prescriptions for certain controlled substances. The database can be accessed by medical providers to identify patients who may be receiving too many opioids or dangerous combinations of medications. Currently, medical providers are not required to look up a patient’s record in the PMP database. The report would like a requirement that requires medical providers look up their patients in the database.

Prescriptions on paper lends themselves to forgery. From April 2015 to early August 2017, healthcare providers reported 86 incidents of fraudulent opioid prescriptions or stolen pads to the Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission. Electronic prescribing of prescriptions allows for a more secure method of communication between a doctor and a pharmacy.

While Snohomish County and King County have medicine take-back programs, all counties in the state do not provide a way for citizens to dispose of medicines that are no longer needed. More than half of teens say that it is easy to get prescription drugs from medicine cabinets at home. Having an easy, well-advertised way for the public to dispose of unneeded prescriptions should help to prevent the family medicine cabinet from becoming an easy drug diversion source.

The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) is part of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office. It investigates Medicaid fraud within the state, but must rely heavily on local law enforcement agencies to carry out key investigative tasks such as issuing search warrants and making arrests. The report points out that the vast majority of MFCU’s in other states have the authority of limited authority peace officers. The report believes that this limited authority would greatly help in Medicaid fraud investigations and in reducing diversion of opioids.

Next post, part 4; disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking organizations responsible for bringing narcotics into out state.

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).

OPIOID CRISIS- Washington State’s Response Part 2

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 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. The report makes the following recommendations,

1.      Establish limits on the amount of initial opioid prescriptions.

2.      Require patients to acknowledge that they have been informed on the dangers of opioids upon initial prescription.

3.      Support requirements or incentives for alternative pain management treatments.

The medical and dental industries can help reduce opioid addiction with judiciously prescribing opioids and other non-opioid pain relievers. The report points out that dentists are the biggest prescribers of opioids to youth, with emergency medicine providers the second highest.

Prescribing more than a week’s supply of opioids almost doubles the chance that the patients will still be using opioids one year later.

Some states limit the amount of initial opioid prescriptions. The state of Washington is moving to establish opioid restrictions. The report points out that as patients and medical providers become educated about opioid dangers and the state establishes limits, an effort needs to be made to develop and expand other non-addicting anti-pain treatments.

Next post, part 3; reduce the illicit use of prescription opioids.

  

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

OPIOID CRISIS- Snohomish County Tries a New Strategy

In an effort to fight the county’s opioid crisis more comprehensively, County Executive Dave Somers has ordered partial activation of the county’s Emergency Coordination Center. The center, as part of the county’s Department of Emergency Management, is normally activated for natural disasters such as major earthquakes, floods and fires. Activating the coordination center will allow better coordination between local agencies such as the Sheriff’s Office, Department of Health, Public Works, Human Services as well as the county’s cities.

At a press conference that was streamed online, County Executive Dave Somers, County Health Officer Dr. Mark Beatty and Sheriff Ty Trenary all described a serious situation that requires many disciplines to control.

Numbers portray the problem. The emergency room at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett has treated 688 overdose cases through August of this year. In 2016, there were 90 overdose deaths in Snohomish County. 13 of those deaths were attributed to fentanyl or other synthetic drugs. Statewide in 2016, there were 694 fatal opiate overdoses.

Over one weekend last month, the county Medical Examiner reported 7 suspected overdose deaths. In the first six months of this year there have been 8 overdose deaths from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. And according to Dr. Beatty, the Everett needle exchange is on track to collect over 2 million needles this year.

Comments from the three officials emphasized that the county needs to develop a multi-disciplined approach to reduce the damage of the opioid/heroin crisis. Dr. Beatty said that we need to change how we think about the problem. Opioid addiction is not a failure of will, it is a disease that may be influenced by some people’s genetics. The county needs to protect the community from harm; that includes from crime caused by addiction and the health dangers from the addiction itself. The county needs to treat the addicted but also it needs to prevent the addiction.

Sheriff Trenary said that the addiction problem is all over the county, not just in certain areas. He feels that the crisis has some ties to homelessness as well as an individual’s mental health. He said that "Letting people die is not a solution.”

Both Dr. Beatty and Sheriff Trenary pointed out that there are not enough services in the county to treat the addicted. Often, when the Office of Neighborhood’s outreach teams, which consist of deputies and embedded social workers, find people who want help, it might take a few days to coordinate help. This often requires putting the person wanting help, the client, in a hotel room. Also, the social workers are often going out of the county and out of the state to find the services that the client needs. One goal that Sheriff Trenary has is to convert an old work release facility into 40 beds where clients can stay while the embedded social workers find help.

County Executive Somers said that "Punishment doesn't work." Dr. Beatty concluded that it is a community problem and the community needs to take action to fix it.

The partial activation is called the Opioid Response Multi-Agency Coordination Group (MAC). The county has set seven goals for the group:

1.      Reduce opioid misuse and abuse;

2.      Lessen the availability of opioids;

3.      Reduce criminal activity associated with opioids;

4.      Use data to detect, monitor, evaluate, and act;

5.      Reduce collateral damage to the communities;

6.      Provide information about the response in a timely and coordinated manner; and

7.      Ensure the availability of resources that efficiently and effectively support response efforts.

The health district has created a “one stop” web site on opioids for people who want more information or who want help with their own opioid addiction. That web site can be found at http://snohomishoverdoseprevention.com/.

Snohomish County:

https://snohomishcountywa.gov/Archive.aspx?ADID=5852

The Herald:

http://www.heraldnet.com/news/agencies-launch-coordinated-response-to-an-opioid-emergency/

My Everett News:

https://myeverettnews.com/2017/11/20/county-to-treat-opioid-epidemic-as-a-disaster/

DRUGS- Do You Know What Drugs Look Like?

Can you tell if your child is using drugs? Or if your child has drug paraphernalia? The Arlington Drug Awareness Coalition is holding a presentation at Weston High School and Lakewood High Scholl with interactive displays and representatives from local agencies to educate the public about the hidden signs of drugs and the symptoms of drug abuse in the home. The presentation at both high schools will be held on Thursday, January 19, at 6;30pm to 8:30pm.

For more information about this event go to:

Arlington Drug Awareness Coalition:

https://www.facebook.com/events/837209423087039/

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=arlington%20drug%20awareness%20coalition

HEROIN EPIDEMIC- Where to Go for Help

If a family member or a friend are addicted to heroin you may want to find help for them in getting out of that addiction. There are organizations that can help. Some organizations include:

·         Catholic Community Services, http://www.ccsww.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage. Catholic Community Services provides a wide range of services including addiction recovery, mental health, services for children, youth and families, services for the homeless.

·         Cocoon House, http://www.cocoonhouse.org/. Cocoon House provides outreach to young people between 12-24 years old. It provides short and long term house for homeless young people between 12-17 years old. And it provides phone consultations, parent education and programs for parents and guardians.

·         Al Anon,  http://wa-al-anon.org/. Al-Anon/Alateen offers a recovery program for families and friends of alcoholics.

·         Changes Parent Support Network, http://cpsn.org/. The Changes Parent Support Network provides support for parents whose children are in self destructive activities such as drug abuse.

 Other resources include:

  

Snohomish Health District:

http://www.snohd.org/heroin

Snohomish County:

http://www.snohomishcountywa.gov/naloxone

HEROIN EPIDEMIC- What To Do

Local governmental agencies, including the Snohomish Health District, Snohomish County Human Services, and local police agencies, have been conducting public forums to educate about and discuss the heroin epidemic in Snohomish County. Recently, a forum was held in Arlington.

The forums provide a background about heroin and opioids in Snohomish County and their effects on our population. The meetings are intended to educate the public on the epidemic and in a way, a call to action. Local government agencies can take action, but they need the public’s help and support in order to be successful.

According to a Snohomish Health District handout, four things need to be done toward fighting the heroin/opioid epidemic:

1.      Increase detox capacity. More detox beds are needed in Snohomish County.

2.      Expand Medically Assisted Treatment (MAT) opportunities. This includes more methadone clinics, use of buprenorphine and naltrexone.

3.      Educate the public on Washington State’s Good Samaritan Law (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=69.50.315). Up to two weeks ago, 56 lives have been saved since the beginning of distribution of naloxone.

4.      Implement evidence-based practices. This would include alternate sentencing and medically assisted treatments in place of incarceration. Offer services to addicts.

Other actions suggested that the government and the public can take include:

·         Build healthy, resilient families-

o   Educate children about drugs.

o   Involve children in healthy activities

o   Get unused prescription drugs out of homes. (Go to http://www.takebackyourmeds.org/what-you-can-do/locations/temporary-drop-off-locations for where you can take your unused prescriptions)

o   Improve access to naloxone (http://www.snohomishcountywa.gov/naloxone).

o   Create syringe exchanges.

·         Individuals can-

o   Learn more about the problem (This link is a good start- http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/heroin/index.html).

o   Take action in the case of an overdose:

§  Learn how to recognize an overdose (http://www.snohd.org/Portals/0/Snohd/Diseases/files/VH-OpioidBrochure_CD.pdfFINAL2015.pdf)

§  Increase heroin/opioid awareness, reduce the stigma, take the judgement out of addiction.

§  Support recovery:

·         Of the individual

·         Recovery programs

The next public forum will be on October 13, at Edmonds Community College at 6:30pm.

Snohomish Health District:

http://www.snohd.org/heroin

DRUGS IN SNOHOMISH COUNTY- Oxycontin and Heroin

Drugs in Snohomish County have been a problem for many years, as they have been in the rest of the country. In the late 1990's and early 2000's methamphetamine was a big problem in the county. Local manufacturers found it easy to purchase or steal cold medicines with pseudoephedrine and other chemicals to make the meth in their back yards, kitchens, apartments or where-ever. A state law controlling cold medicines with pseudoephedrine pretty much reduced the small labs. While meth is still available, it is not the large problem that it was.

Over the past few years, there has been an increase in the use of prescription drugs, especially oxycontin, and heroin. This article published in today's The Herald gives good insight on the current drug problem in the county:

http://heraldnet.com/article/20110123/NEWS01/701239855/-1/News