Drafter
Clerk 09/06/2023
Title
A RESOLUTION supporting the framework, the funding focus, and the methodology for funding prioritization recommended in the 2023 Community Engagement Report and encouraging jurisdictions within King County to use the same framework as they develop spending plans; and further encouraging jurisdictions within King County to seek out and pursue cross-jurisdictional strategies when possible, to maximize the impact of available funding.
Body
WHEREAS opioids are a class of drugs that include heroin, pain relievers available by prescription such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, and morphine, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, all of which have pain-reducing effects and are highly addictive, even when they are prescribed appropriately and taken as directed, and
WHEREAS, the National Centers for Disease Control identifies three "waves" of increasing overdose deaths involving an opioid since the late 1990s, beginning with the increased prescription of these drugs earlier in that decade, and
WHEREAS, the majority of preventable overdose deaths nationally involve opioids, with synthetic opioids other than methadone being the fastest growing category of opioids involved in a death, and
WHEREAS, beginning in 2016 the national number of overdose deaths from fentanyl passed the number of overdose deaths from prescription opioids, and that gap has persisted and grown ever since, and
WHEREAS, in 2016 King County Executive Dow Constantine, Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus, Renton Mayor Denis Law, and Seattle Mayor Ed Murray convened the King County Heroin and Prescription Opiate Addiction Task Force with the participation of experts from a wide range of disciplines, resulting in a list of recommendations that emphasized addiction prevention, the expansion and enhancement of available treatment options, and the ongoing use of harm-reduction strategies, and
WHEREAS, the American Psychiatric Association recognizes opioid use disorder as a chron...

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