A fatal overdose in Cal Anderson (Image: CHS)

At 10:30 AM on Monday, the Seattle Fire Department responded to a reported overdose in a Boylston Ave apartment. The city’s fire chief says his department is responding to an average of 15 drug overdoses a day driven by a surge in fentanyl use.

Officials this week say King County is launching a new “multi-part strategy across five priority areas” to address the crisis beginning this year that will include a new residential treatment center plus five new Crisis Care Centers paid for by the $1.25 billion property levy approved by voters last year along with new initiatives to increase access to overdose antidotes and drug testing.

Previously shuttered services are also being restarted including the reopening of the county’s sobering center that provides a desperately needed facility for people suffering from addiction and heavy drug or alcohol use.

“Substance use disorder is complex, and there is not one single cause, nor one simple solution. That’s why King County is connecting people to treatment and lifesaving interventions that are proven to work, and clear paths to recovery for all,” King County Executive Dow Constantine said in a statement. “The increasingly dangerous drug supply across the state and nation, dominated by fentanyl, is contributing to a devastating increase in deaths. There is so much more to do, which is why King County is also working upstream to help prevent substance use disorder, inform and educate the community, elevate early intervention strategies, and provide services and treatment for anyone who needs it.”

The investments range from the new facilities to resources already put in place like the county’s buprenorphine prescription hotline that is staffed 24 hours a day to help people get access to the drug used as a safer replacement in the treatment of opioid dependence.

Five Priorities for Action to Prevent Overdoses in King County in 2024

Priority 1: Treatment and community-based, recovery-focused care for all.

1. Launch a 24/7 Buprenorphine Prescribing Line. As of January 1, 2024, anyone can call
206-289-0287 to talk to a physician and get a prescription for Buprenorphine, a medication to
treat opiate use.
2. Enable 40+ existing behavioral health providers to begin providing buprenorphine induction
and ongoing treatment through Medicaid funding.
3. Increase the 24/7 youth mobile crisis program by 20 mental health providers and support staff
(including family advocates, youth peers and parent partners) to double the capacity of youth
mobile crisis teams in the field and increase the 24/7 adult mobile crisis program by more than 30 crisis responders to increase the capacity of adult mobile crisis teams available throughout
the day from 17 to 27.
4. Invest in 6 new community navigators for public safety, health care, and community settings,
to link people at risk of overdose to treatment and support harm reduction.

Priority 2: Behavioral health beds and facilities.
5. Partner with Pioneer Human Services to open a 16-bed residential treatment program for
people with co-occurring disorders (mental health and substance use) located in Seattle.
6. Partner with the City of Seattle to site and re-open a 24/7 SUD sobering center that provides
an essential health-supervised care setting.
7. Partner with the City of Seattle, Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) and University
of Washington to open a post-overdose recovery center that provides medical follow-up and
behavioral health treatment engagement and initiation following an opioid overdose.
Priority 3: Overdose reversal medication and fentanyl testing.
8. Expand the number of King County fire departments that provide leave-behind naloxone at
sites of overdoses where people are at high risk.
9. Convene a county-wide Overdose Fatality Review process to review overdose fatalities and
develop recommendations for policy changes to reduce overdose deaths.
10. Test up to 1,000 drug samples annually, to reduce accidental drug poisonings, through
expanding drug checking services in King County-based services.
11. Distribute 45,000 naloxone kits and 100,000 test strips, a 15 percent increase from 2023,
through a new centralized harm reduction supply center and vending machines.
Priority 4: A robust, diverse behavioral health workforce.
12. Add ~100 new apprenticeships statewide with half of the opportunities in King County.
Apprenticeships range from behavioral health technicians, substance use disorder
professionals, and peer counselors.
Priority 5: Reduced disproportionality in overdoses.
13. Distribute $2 million in overdose prevention grants from opioid settlement funds to
disproportionately impacted underserved populations. Populations with high overdose rates
include Black, Indigenous and communities of color, and people living unsheltered.

The new initiatives will be funded by the property levy, Medicaid funding, and state and federal program support including millions won in judgments from lawsuits against the opioid industry.

Some like the planned residential treatment center will require partnerships. Pioneer Human Services is lined up to operate a 16-bed residential treatment program for people with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders that will be located in Seattle.

There are still many barriers to the plan moving forward including determining siting of the treatment centers.

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