TULALIP – Native Americans are six times more likely to die from an overdose of heroin than whites in Snohomish County, a new report says.
To combat that, the county is going to offer a pilot program, giving out overdose reversal kits at the weekly needle exchange on Totem Beach Road. The goal of that program is to stop the spread of HIV-AIDS and Hepatitis C.
According to the report, heroin use is at epidemic proportions countywide and has been for a few years. Before 2008, the opiad painkillers of choice were oxycodone and hydrocodone. When regulations stiffened on those drugs that year, heroin started to take their place because it was potent and inexpensive, the report says.
In 2008, 12 people died of heroin overdose countywide. That jumped to 57 by 2011, 47 in 2012 and 39 in 2013.
Heroin overdose affects people 18-64 and twice as many men as women. Youth overdoses were just one in 2005, compared with 23 in 2013.
As for the Tulalip Tribes, there were 39 heroin deaths from 2011-13, which is 27 percent of the overall county rate even though they are just 4 percent of the population.
The report, called “Heroin in Snohomish County: Mortality and treatment trends,” was done by the Snohomish Health District in January 2015.
The trend continues this year. The medical examiner reports three overdose deaths in the past few days.
The report says that for every $1 spent on treatment and prevention, $2-$10 can be saved on health costs, criminal and juvenile justice costs, education costs and loss of productivity.
The report lists a number of things that could be done to help ease the epidemic:
• There are only 16 publicly funded detoxification beds in the county. More is needed, especially expansion in the north county area.
• People need to be educated about House Bill 1796, also known as the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Law. People can help drug victims and not be held liable.
Overdose reversal kids need to be available for school personnel, law enforcement, treatment centers, correction centers, families and individuals, the report says. The overdose reversal kits are available at Haggen’s on 88th.
