Lake Stevens hosting forum on rise of opioid abuse

Published 1:30 am Sunday, July 17, 2016

LAKE STEVENS — There was an overdose here this week. The man lived. Police and firefighters performed CPR until he woke up.

Opioid abuse, particularly heroin, is an increasing problem in Lake Stevens and the rest of Snohomish County. A public forum on the topic is planned for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Lake Stevens School District headquarters at 12309 22nd St. NE.

Between January and June, Lake Stevens police officers saved three people from overdoses using Naloxone, better known as Narcan, a drug that counteracts the effects of an overdose.

“They were dead or going to die,” interim Police Chief Ralph Krusey said Friday.

For every save, there are others who die before help arrives or without anyone knowing they’ve overdosed until it’s too late.

“The death rate is extremely high,” Krusey said.

Dozens of people died of overdoses of opioids, including heroin, in Snohomish County in 2015, according to medical examiner records.

The forum will focus on reasons people may get addicted, how to recognize the signs and ways to help.

There’s been a spike in heroin use, Krusey said. Hundreds of people in the county sought inpatient treatment for addiction in 2015. Nearly half of them were on heroin.

Users frequently report that they started abusing prescription painkillers before moving on to heroin, which can be cheaper and easier to obtain.

Local law enforcement, including officials at the Snohomish County Jail, say they’re routinely seeing heroin addicts in their teens and 20s, something that would have been unheard of a decade ago.

Similar forums have been held in Mukilteo, Snohomish and Arlington, with parents as a target audience.

“I would hope that anybody who lives in the community — the residents, the business people — would attend the forum,” Krusey said.

He hopes they will learn more about the need for a community-wide response to the addiction crisis.

Countywide, more than 30 people were saved by the use of Narcan between May 2015 and March 2016. The drug has been available to medical professionals for decades but is a recent addition to police and fire departments. The increased demand has seen the price for the drug spike in recent years, according to news reports.

Heroin use is a nationwide problem and no city or town in Snohomish County has been immune.

Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com