Fentanyl crisis behind record Seattle homeless death toll

Homeless people in Seattle, Washington are dropping dead left and right, largely thanks to fentanyl and its talent for causing sudden death by overdose.

The Seattle Times reports that a record 310 people died in 2022 in Seattle and across King County, Washington, who were homeless, according to coroner records. More than half of these deaths, or 160 of them, are related to a fentanyl overdose.

This means that fentanyl-related deaths outnumbered accidents, natural causes, homicide, suicide, pending, and undetermined deaths combined.

The number reflects a 65% jump from 2021 and an increase of over 100 people from the previous record of 2018 of 195 deaths. The shocking figures are alarming the health authorities in the region. REACH is a Seattle-based organization that fights homelessness and provides people with meals, medical care and drug addiction support.

“This is just terrifying,” Chloe Gale, policy and strategy vice president for REACH, told the Seattle Times. An estimate of the level of homelessness in the county last year found that 13,368 people lived outside.

Earlier in December 2020, the area had set a record for most people dying without shelter in a single month, with 29 deaths. In 2021, 188 homeless people died.

It’s not usually the cold that kills people who are homeless. According to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, investigators often found a combination of fentanyl and other drugs in the systems of people who overdosed.

There is no end in sight for the health authorities. “Maybe we’re stalling at a really bad rate and maybe it’s going to get worse,” said Brad Finegood, who leads an opioid and overdose response for public health. “I don’t know when it will stop.”

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said that despite the rise in overdoses, his administration is pushing to bring more people indoors and is working with the King County regional homelessness agency to do so.

King County officials said they recently directed Public Health – Seattle & King County to work with the Department of Community and Human Services and King County’s regional homelessness agency to help homelessness service providers learn more about what’s working and what not to lower the risk of fatal overdose among the homeless.

Last year, Public Health – Seattle & King County distributed over 10,000 naloxone kits and about 100,000 fentanyl test strips to reduce deaths. The agency continues to sponsor public awareness campaigns for similar efforts related to people affected by homelessness.

Homeless Drug Addiction Efforts

The cannabis industry has gotten creative over the years to do its part to combat drug addiction with powerful narcotics like fentanyl.

Commissioners in Clark County, Nevada, passed a resolution in 2019 allocating nearly $1.8 million from the local commercial cannabis industry to subsidize programs to help the homeless. A little over $930,000 of the earmarked money was made available to HELP of Southern Nevada’s Rehousing Services.

A California homeless shelter received 100 new beds in 2019 thanks to donations from cannabis dispensaries in the community of Ventura County, California. The five licensed pharmacies that contributed to this cause were Emerald Perspective, Hueneme Patient Collective, SafePort, Tradecraft Ventures and SkunkMasters who donated $17,500 of the $25,000 raised in donations.

In the interest of harm reduction in San Francisco in 2020, health care workers administered limited amounts of certain substances, such as cannabis and alcohol, to people affected by homelessness and addiction.

The San Francisco Department of Health said this actually helps keep addicts in isolation, thus preventing the potential spread of COVID.