King County Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht shows a photo of a common fentanyl-laced pill found all over King County. (Aaron Granillo, KIRO Radio)
Fentanyl has been a driving factor behind fatal overdoses in Washington State for years, and in 2020 it was never so clear.
The context behind a fentanyl overdose in Washington State
According to data from Caleb Banta-Green, a research scientist at the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute (ADAI) at the University of Washington, there were 171 overdoses with fentanyl in the second quarter of 2020.
During the same period in 2019, Washington saw only 63 overdoses of fentanyl; two years earlier there were 18.
This creates a trend that Banta-Green describes as “stunning”.
“We are at the end of a wave that has developed across the country, so we have quickly moved from a low to a high,” he told UW Medicine in a recent Q&A.
Fentanyl is often found in counterfeit pills made to look like prescription opiates, such as oxycodone. The risk stems from the fact that fentanyl is anywhere from 30 to 50 times stronger than pure heroin, and a dose the size of a few grains of salt can be lethal.
As Banta-Green points out, it first began to spread prominently along the East Coast and Midwest in 2013, before gradually making its way across the United States to the West Coast. As for whether the marked increase in 2020 was due to the pandemic, he believes there may very well be a connection.
“We know that someone is more likely to die of an overdose when they are alone. Last year everyone had more time alone, ”he said. “It is a reasonable theory that the overdose would take off with a drug that is widely available, mixed with the persistent pressure of social determinants of health, and on top of that the isolation and stress of a pandemic.”
“What’s interesting is that we haven’t seen that same surge in heroin and pharmaceutical opioids – only fentanyl. We don’t know why, ”he added.
In the coming months, Banta-Green believes Washington has an opportunity to “get the situation under better control,” and points to unique methods of intervention being used statewide.
It’s powered by “low-threshold, quick access to judgment-free care” advocated by ADAI, educating people on how to spot fentanyl in counterfeit pills, distributing thousands of naloxone overdose-reversing kits, and promoting drug addiction treatment. such as buprenorphine and methadone.
Seattle is funding 700 naloxone kits as part of its fentanyl awareness campaign
“Much of our work at ADAI is to understand the problem, understand how clinicians deal with it, and educate statewide clinicians in a drug-first approach, including client-centered, shared decision-making,” he outlined.
You can read more about the work ADAI is doing in Washington State on their website here.