Rep. McMorris Rodgers hosts fentanyl roundtable

Tacoma

(The Center Square) – Eastern Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, held a roundtable Tuesday to discuss the threat of fentanyl trafficking in the region.

Seated at the table in Spokane were families who had lost a loved one to a fentanyl overdose, law enforcement officials and treatment providers.

“I appreciate all of you coming together. It’s not the subject we would want to have bring us all together, but it’s an important issue,” said McMorris Rodgers, who serves the Fifth Congressional District.

She said with fentanyl now the top killer of 18 to 45-year-olds across the nation, it was time for all communities to take action.

She said fentanyl seizures in Spokane County had increased 1,100% in recent years, which was also alarming.

“This is the beginning of figuring out what we can do locally,” she said. “Washington [D.C.] doesn’t have any more answers than we have here.”

She noted that fentanyl distribution and overdose rates in Spokane County were high enough that the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had recently launched Operation Engage. That initiative will use a comprehensive community approach to wage a war against the synthetic opioid.

Spokane County is one of 11 sites getting a special DEA focus. It has been identified as a prime hub for narcotics distribution due to its location on Interstate 90 and proximity to Canada.

According to the DEA, opioids (illicit fentanyl and heroin) and prescription drugs are among the top regional drug threats in Washington.

The DEA is working to create a partnership between the agency, schools, faith-based organizations, social service providers and other community organizations to stop the drug epidemic in Spokane County.

The comprehensive community-level approach to address the drug epidemic will focus on prevention, education and enforcement of laws.

McMorris Rodgers was told by several people at the roundtable that education played a key role in turning the situation around. However, without removing the stigma tied to conversations about drug use and deaths, it would be difficult to get schools, churches and community organizations to engage their spheres of influence.

“We have to lift the veil and people have to talk about this as families, so that we raise awareness and people are able to make healthy decisions,” said Bill Hyslop, former US attorney.

He said fentanyl is 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine. The drug, he said, was coming into the United States via the southern border.

There had been more than 100,000 drug overdose deaths in the US within the last year, a record, and 64% were attributed to fentanyl, he said.

Fentanyl is cut with other drugs to make them more powerful, and pressed into authentic-looking pills that hides its deadly potential, he said.

Records from the Washington Department of Health show more than a 186% increase in fentanyl-related overdoses in Spokane County between 2020 and 2021, and a 1.233% increase in these overdoses in the three years prior.

Hyslop identified the Spokane Alliance as one of the organizations that would be working to turn things around. It was going to take a village to fight a threat that was claiming so many lives, he said.

“We are not going to arrest our way out of this problem and all law enforcement will tell you that,” Hyslop said.

He explained that 2 milligrams of fentanyl was enough to kill a person. To put that into perspective, he said a packet of sugar commonly found at restaurants contained the equivalent of 400 lethal doses of the drug.

“The DEA will tell you that this is the scariest they’ve ever seen it,” said Hyslop.

Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl said authorities were trying to focus on arresting drug dealers to stop trafficking of opioids. However, he said having the Washington Supreme Court toss the ability to arrest people for simple drug possession a couple of years ago had made that more difficult.

Those arrested for drugs frequently provided valuable information to use in apprehending dealers, which was no longer available.

“We’ve really lost a valuable tool,” he said.

Spokane Police Lt. Rob Boothe said last year the street price of a fentanyl-laced tablet was about $25, but the drug had become so plentiful that it now sold for $4.50 to $6.

Where it was once significant to arrest someone in possession of 10 pills, he said officers were now routinely finding thousands during routine traffic stops.

“We are out there every single day trying to fight this with the tools we have,” he said.

Spokane County Undersheriff John Nowels said deputies, like city officers, were exhausting the supply of Narcan provided by the health district to help provide treatment of suspected overdoses. He said lives were being saved by these actions.

Nowels said law enforcement officials could man the front lines, but the entire community needed to be engaged in the battle against opioids. He asked McMorris Rodgers to channel more federal resources to the community to use for drug treatment and prevention.

He said almost half of violent crimes committed in the county were tied to drug use.

dr Nicole Rodin from the Washington State University School of Pharmacy agreed that all community members needed to get engaged.

“It takes every person behind this to make an impact,” she said.

Tim Kilgallon, chief executive officer of Ideal Option Addiction Medicine Program, said accountability played a big role in recovery from addiction. He said behavioral changes often came about when people had lost everything and were ready to get better.

When they arrive at that point, he said the community needed to have the resources to support their efforts, something that McMorris could help obtain.

dr Francisco Velazquez of the Spokane Regional Health Department said it was gratifying to see growing mobilization around a very serious health threat. He said the number of local overdoses had been quadrupled since 2020 and there needed to be as much emphasis on prevention.

Even when people overcame a serious opioid addiction, Velazquez said they could be faced with chronic health problems tied to poor nutrition and other factors that would need attention.

McMorris Rodgers asked if addiction rates were tied to some societal change. She wanted to know if the worsening situation could be tied to the COVID-19 pandemic isolation and restrictions.

Velazquez said it was too soon to know what effects the pandemic had on individuals and families. He requested that federal resources be allocated for transportation and other support services that could get people the help they needed.

The roundtable discussion also centered on the human element of addiction. Three families who had lost loved ones to fentanyl told their stories and shared insights.

Marsha Maslam founded the Rayce Rudeen Foundation in honor of her nephew of the same name who died in 2016 from a fentanyl overdose. hey what 26

“Fentanyl is so out of the box, we have to think out of the box,” she said of prevention and education efforts.

Toward that end, she said the foundation, based in Liberty Lake, would hold a leadership summit in May to organize a campaign against illicit drug use.

“We want to give our youth the tools they need to avoid peer pressure,” she said.

Also sharing was Molly Cain, who lost her son, Carson, to fentanyl, and Chrystal Slatter, who lost daughter Milli.

After learning the role that social media had played in these young people obtaining drugs, McMorris Rodgers said Congress needed to revisit the liability protections given these platforms that were tied to them moderating content to prevent criminal activity.

“I’m grateful to each and every one of you for what you do,” she said in closing.

She said the information she had obtained would be taken back to DC, where she would advocate for more resources.