Snohomish County will soon implement phase two of its opioid abatement funds plan, a mobile Opioid Treatment Program (OTP) for the county’s residents struggling with opioid addiction.
The OTP clinic on wheels, will bring treatment to more rural areas and cost up to $800,000.
The county aims to launch the mobile program this fall; however, an exact date has yet to be set as it must comply with the same regulations as a brick-and-mortar OTP clinic.
The United States has seen a daunting increase in opioid overdose deaths in the past few years. Snohomish County alone saw 269 opioid overdose deaths in 2023, in 2021, it was 199 deaths.
In 2022, the Washington State Office of the Attorney General announced that the state would receive about $158 million due to a settlement agreement reached with three companies cited for their critical role in the opioid crisis rippling throughout the state. The payout, for opioid treatment and prevention, will be distributed throughout Washington state, including Snohomish County.
The three opioid distributors — Amerisource Bergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson Corp. — will collectively pay the $158 million over the next 17 years. In addition, the opioid manufacturer, Johnson and Johnson, paid a $123.34 million lump sum earlier this year because of a separate lawsuit with the Washington State Office of the Attorney General.
Several organizations continue to be sued for their part in the opioid crisis, resulting in several other payouts.
Snohomish County received an initial $1.5 million for opioid treatment and prevention in 2023, resulting in the county creating a spending plan.
Phase one of the plan- costing $671,125 - included developing a long-term strategy for the settlement funds; increasing staffing at county OTPs; distributing Narcan, a drug that quickly reverses an opioid overdose, to first responders; and supporting community-based organizations focused on opioid use recovery.
The efforts Snohomish County has put into its OTP clinics and resources have paid off so far: cases of opioid overdoses and deaths have seemed to stabilize so far in 2024.
“Our opioid-related overdoses and deaths rose sharply from the late 20-teens up until 2023, where we were having year over year the highest we’d ever seen in both overdoses and deaths,” said Dr. James Lewis, the health officer at Snohomish County Health Department.
“Things stabilized slightly at the beginning (of 2024), which is certainly better than continuing to see year-over-year growth in this terrible outcome. But we still have a lot of work to do.”
Cammy Hart-Anderson is the Division Manager of Behavioral Health and Veteran Services at Snohomish County Human Services. Human Services suggested launching a mobile OTP inspired by Spokane County’s mobile program. The county supported the idea, and they quickly turned it into a multi-agency endeavor. The county contracted with Acadia Healthcare, the same organization in contract in Spokane.
According to Hart-Anderson, a mobile OTP requires the same regulations and licenses as a brick-and-mortar OTP clinic, which takes months to process.
One of these licenses is for Methadone, a highly regulated drug used to treat opioid use disorder. Providing mobile treatment opens up possibilities for people who may not have reliable transportation to OTP clinics five times a week.
“Methadone is a much more tightly controlled substance, and it is more difficult to provide in a mobile,” said Dr. James Lewis, the health officer at Snohomish County Health Department. “Human services work to ensure that they will be able to provide that. That will further lower barriers and increase the likelihood of people being willing and able to engage in the program.”
As of now, the mobile OTP will be available at two locations. Hart-Anderson said the first location will be on county-owned property in Stillaguamish Valley, and an area yet to be secured in the Sky Valley.
The mobile, a retrofitted RV, will have everything a brick-and-mortar OTP clinic has. This includes therapeutic services where experts determine what an individual may need, such as drugs like Methadone or Vivitrol. The clinic will provide medication, counseling in a private room on the mobile, and urine analysis done on-site, a requirement for treatment.
