TULALIP, Wash. — Washington Governor Jay Inslee has signed a multimillion-dollar measure to send state money to tribes and indigenous peoples in the state who die from opioid overdoses at disproportionately high rates in Washington.
It was one of seven fentanyl-related bills Inslee signed Tuesday while on the Tulalip Indian Reservation, KING-TV reported. The bills, passed by the state Legislature this session, seek to comprehensively address the fentanyl crisis across the state by increasing opioid education, overdose prevention, access to treatment, recovery support and resources for first responders. improve.
“We must equip first responders with the lifesaving supplies they need,” Inslee said in an online blog post. “We need to implement programs in public education and prevention. We need special emphasis on youth and tribal communities. We need to increase the number of treatment facilities to make it easier to get help.”
The state Legislature earlier this month overwhelmingly approved the tribal bill that is expected to provide a total of nearly $8 million a year for Washington’s 29 federally recognized tribes until at least 2031. The money will come in part from a roughly half-billion-dollar settlement between the state and major opioid distributors.
Native Americans and Alaska Natives in Washington are dying from opioid overdoses at a rate five times the state average, according to 2021-2022 data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which includes preliminary figures. The rate is one of the highest in the country and more than three times higher than the national rate.
Officials from tribes such as the Lummi Nation, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Seattle, have said the money would be critical. Lummi Nation declared a state of emergency last year over fentanyl, added drug-sniffing dogs and checkpoints and revoked bail for drug-related charges.
The tribe also opened a seven-bed facility to help members with withdrawal symptoms and give them medications for opioid use disorder. In its first five months, the facility has treated 63 people, the majority of whom remain on the medication regimen, said Dr. Jesse Davis, medical director of the Lummi Healing Spirit Opioid Treatment program.
“Native American tribes are disproportionately affected, and they have taken a proactive approach to treatment that deserves support,” said Republican Sen. John Braun of Chehalis.
One of the other bills signed Tuesday, known as the Lucas Petty Act, would include fentanyl education in the public school curriculum. The bill is named after the 16-year-old boy who died in 2022 after smoking marijuana that he did not know contained fentanyl. His mother, Maria Trujillo Petty, testified passionately in favor of the bill before the House and Senate during the legislative session.
“No parent should have to experience the grief of losing a child to an overdose,” said the bill’s Democratic representative, Mari Leavitt of University Place. “Our children are facing an opioid and fentanyl crisis that is deadly and brutal. As adults, we owe our children the information they need to make smart decisions.”