By The Herald Editorial Board
Steadily, Snohomish County, its cities and its partner agencies, are adding to a toolbox of programs and efforts meant to turn around the lives of those struggling with opioid and other addictions, as well as mental illness and the homelessness that often results from both.
Among the recent successes has been a drop in the number of heroin or other opioid overdose deaths in the county, even as fatal overdoses increase nationwide, Mark Beatty, health officer for the Snohomish Health District, told the editorial board last week. Deaths from overdose have decreased by 35 percent to 40 percent since a spike in 2011, largely because of the wider availability of naloxone, which can halt the effects of an overdose. More than just among first responders, the drug, also known as Narcan, is widely in use by the general community and family and friends of those with opioid addictions.
That’s demonstrated by the health district’s one-week point-in-time survey last July, which showed that of 37 reported overdoses in the county, three were fatal. Of the 34 survivals, 24 lives were saved by naloxone, 16 of them because family, friends of bystanders administered the overdose-reversal medication.
With more lives being saved, efforts can also now build to treat survivors; end the cycle of addiction, homelessness, jail and release; and provide a chance to restore health and lives.
Among the tools in use is the recent expansion of teams of law enforcement officers and social workers, as reported Friday, by The Herald’s Caleb Hutton. Arlington and Marysville have recently hired social workers to join with police and sheriff’s deputies, in a program funded equally by the county and the cities. The teams go out, in particular to homeless encampments, to begin building relationships, discuss available treatment and other services and attempt to divert them from arrest.
Arlington Mayor Barb Tolbert and Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring told the editorial board last week that each city has found officers enthusiastic about the teams who began their outreach even before social workers had been hired.
The teams are now used throughout the county, either through the cooperation of the county sheriff’s department or individually by cities, such as in Everett.
The problem, however, had been finding treatment programs and shelter or housing for all who sought help.
That need also is being addressed. The county is nearly ready to open a 44-bed diversion center in downtown Everett at 1918 Wall Street. Sheriff Ty Trenary said the sheriff’s Office of Neighborhoods is hiring workers for the center who will administer medically assisted treatment for opioid withdrawal, such as Suboxone, and help clients obtain other services. The center is expected to help 300 or more people each year.
Similar work is under way, such as the 65-unit housing complex under construction at Berkshire Drive off Evergreen Way. The complex, on property provided by the city, is being built by Catholic Housing Services and Catholic Community Services and will serve the chronically homeless and offer treatment and services to clients with mental health challenges and addictions. It’s expected to open in 2019.
Another 32 treatment beds are expected in 2020 through a remodel of facilities at the Denney Juvenile Justice Center. The treatment facility is being built by the county with $12 million in state capital budget funding and will be operated by a service provider.
There are opportunities for contact as well as through a new nuisance ordinance that was passed last week by the county council. The ordinance, similar to others in use by cities, will allow the county to fine property owners or managers up to $100 a day for chronic nuisances, such as repeated problems with drug sales and prostitution at residences, as well as trash and unsafely discared syringes.
The ordinance should help the county crack down on thousands of such properties, often occupied by squatters, who can be difficult to convince to move on or evict. But even with the ordinance, mayors Tolbert and Nehring said, it’s a lengthy process and one complicated by the fact that many of the homes are in foreclosure and are owned by banks that often don’t have an office in the county or even the state that can address problems and begin eviction proceedings.
Local officials have had discussions with U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, about adopting a federal regulation that would require banks and mortgage holders owning foreclosed homes to have a local property manager that local governments could work with, but the trend in the Republican-led Congress has been less banking regulation and not more.
Most of these tools of late have been provided additional torque through the formation last year of the Opioid Response Multi-Agency Coordination Group, or MAC, for short, which has brought together the county, cities, the health district, first responders, non-profit agencies, community groups and others to foster communication and coordination of efforts.
A large part of that coordination is assisted by the health district’s collection and analysis of data and other information regarding addiction and mental illness, data that will show patterns and trends as well as communities were services are most needed, to better direct resources and efforts. And it will help identify which programs are most effective and could assist in securing grant funding and making budget decisions.
While Congress’ recently adopted a budget that dedicated $4.6 billion this year to fight the opioid crisis nationwide, Snohomish County didn’t receive funding commensurate with the challenges faced here, the health district’s Beatty said, second only to King County in terms of number of opioid deaths, and first in per-capita deaths in the state.
And Trenary and other local officials continue to fight a public relations battle to convince residents and taxpayers that it’s more cost-effective — less expensive — to get those with addictions into treatment and stable housing than to continue the cycle of addiction, homelessness, arrest, jail and release back into the arms of addiction.
When those with opioid addictions have been asked whether they want treatment and help, about 15 percent decline those offers, Beatty said.
“But it’s not because they want to stay addicted,” he said. “It’s hopelessness. They’ve given up hope.”
Some success among the programs above may provide more hope for everyone.
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