Drafter
Clerk 01/12/2017
Title
A RESOLUTION endorsing the Heroin and Prescription Opiate Addiction Task Force Final Report and Recommendations and calling on local and state actors to implement the public health policies outlined in the report, including the establishment of at least two pilot community health engagement location sites.
Body
WHEREAS, heroin and prescription opioid use constitute a public health crisis in King County, resulting in a growing number of deaths, and
WHEREAS, heroin overtook prescription opioids in 2013 as the primary cause of opioid overdose deaths, and
WHEREAS, two hundred twenty-nine individuals died from heroin and prescription overdose in King County in 2015, and
WHEREAS, heroin is the most common drug for which individuals seek treatment for substance use disorder in King County, and
WHEREAS, there is a high, unmet demand for opioid treatment in King County and treatment providers dispensing methadone and buprenorphine are working to expand their capacity, and
WHEREAS, treatment with methadone or buprenorphine for substance use disorders improves survival rates, increases retention in treatment, decreases illicit opioid use and other criminal activity, increases patients' ability to gain and maintain employment, improves birth outcomes among women who are pregnant and contributes to lowering a person's risk of contracting HIV or hepatitis C by reducing the potential for relapse, and
WHEREAS, the majority of young adults who use heroin report being hooked on prescription-type opioids prior to using heroin, and
WHEREAS, the King County Board of Health in 2013 enacted secure medicine return regulations to combat the abuse of prescription-type opioids and other medications, and created a product stewardship program to dispose of unused medicines, becoming the second jurisdiction in the nation to do so, and
WHEREAS, the United States Surgeon General declared the heroin opioid drug epidemic a national crisis in a report tit...

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