Fentanyl death toll continues to surge in King County

King County continues to face an alarming number of drug-related fatalities, many related to the potent synthetic opioid, fentanyl.

According to county data, there were three fentanyl-involved deaths in 2015.

In recent years, such deaths have risen dramatically, totaling 712 last year.

“That number is trending higher already this year,” said Brad Finegood with Public Health – Seattle & King County.

Finegood briefed the county’s Board of Health Thursday on overdose trends and measures to address the crisis.

As drug-related fatalities increase year over year, Finegood said some communities are being hit harder than others.

“When you look at age-adjusted rate of overdose, you’ll see that the rate of overdose of American Indian and Alaskan Native individuals are approximately nine times that currently of white population in our community," Finegood said.

He noted that institutional racism has played a part in these disproportionate outcomes through lack of access to health care and treatment for communities of color.

County health officials are approaching the crisis from a number of angles, including a focus on making harm reduction tools and treatment more easily available.

Finegood told Board of Health members that more naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal drug, is needed in King County.

“Probably more people than ever have access to naloxone, but it doesn't guarantee that we're going to reverse overdose because people can't reverse their own overdose,” Finegood said.

He said the county is working with the state to figure out how to increase access to naloxone, and where it’s most needed.

Last year, King County rolled out two vending machines with harm reduction supplies.

In the past year, more than 1,000 naloxone kits and 4,000 fentanyl test strips have been distributed through the machines.