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With the first months of school now behind us and young people more used to re-engaging with their peers, it’s a good time to have an open and honest conversation with our kids about fentanyl. This powerful synthetic drug has changed the landscape of drug use in our region. In 2015, just three people died from…

Today is the go-live date for Washington’s Safe Medication Return Program, a pioneering effort aimed at reducing medication misuse, abuse, and poisonings. This program creates a unified, statewide, medication return program that will give Washington residents free, convenient and environmentally responsible options for disposing of unwanted medication. Physical drop boxes are available. People may also request free…

People with substance use disorders may be more likely to become infected and die of COVID-19, according to a recent study funded by the National Institutes of Health and published in Molecular Psychiatry. Specifically, the study found that people with opioid use disorder and tobacco addiction were more likely to die of COVID-19. (More…)

New data shows the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened another public health crisis — drug addiction. In Snohomish County, more people died from drug overdoses between March and July than in all of 2019, according to data from the Snohomish Health District. The anxiety and isolation, as well as limited clinical assistance, brought on by the pandemic have…

Even with an all-hands response to the COVID pandemic, Snohomish County, the Snohomish Health District, and other partners continue to move forward with work focused on opioid use prevention, treatment and recovery. (More…)

Under a new data sharing agreement, the Washington State Department of Health is now sharing Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) data with nearly all states, the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense. (More…)

Somewhere between 5 and 10 percent of Snohomish County residents either are addicted to opioids or are misusing them, a Snohomish Health District report estimates. The study released Wednesday tried to quantify just how widespread the drug problem is. It’s one of the first such attempts to do so in the nation. It found between…

A new study also estimates as many as 10,000 county residents are addicted to opioids. More…

From declaring an emergency, to starting addiction treatment at the jail, to dedicated outreach teams of social workers and sheriff’s deputies, Snohomish County has been tackling the opioid and homeless crisis head on. Another key piece of that response will open its doors next month. The county’s dedicated teams of social workers and sheriff’s deputies…

What if the government used the natural disaster coordinated system to mitigate the opioid epidemic? In Snohomish County in Western Washington, officials are taking a unique approach to the opioid crisis by declaring it a life-threatening emergency, as if it were a natural disaster. More…