Snohomish County Council considering permanent ban on safe injection sites

The Snohomish County Council will hold a public hearing at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 14, before considering an ordinance to permanently ban safe injection sites in Snohomish County.

King County’s Heroin and Prescription Opiate Addiction Task Force in September 2016, which the King County Board of Health approved in January 2017. That report called for two pilot sites — one in Seattle and the other somewhere else in King County.

Several cities on the Eastside, including Bellevue, Kent, Renton and Federal Way, have passed legislation to block them there.

The Snohomish County Council in September 2017 approved a six-month moratorium on safe injection sites, where people are able to use heroin under medical supervision. This is meant to avoid overdose death and provide a sanitary place to use and discard of needles and other paraphernalia.

According to the Snohomish County Health District, opioid deaths accounted for the majority of all deaths that occurred as a result of an overdose between 2006 and 2016. That includes heroin, prescription and synthetic opioids. In a recent study conducted by the University of Washington Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institution, about 82 percent of participants at a local syringe exchange wanted to get clean.

A Washington State Department of Health study released on May 5 shows Snohomish County had the second highest mortality rate in Washington last year — nearly one in every six heroin deaths statewide. The numbers illuminate a rise in the use of synthetic opioids, according to the Snohomish County Health District.

County Executive Dave Somers, Sheriff Ty Trenary, the county council and Snohomish Health District Board of Health signed a joint resolution on Nov. 8 committing the entities to ending the opioid epidemic.

The Opioid Response Multi-Agency Coordination (MAC) Group was formed in November 2017 with a 12-month action plan. The MAC has not yet issued a recommendation regarding safe injection sites.

The Snohomish County Council meets in the Council Board Room, on the eighth floor of the Drewel Admin Building at 3000 Rockefeller Ave., Everett.