At the August Board meeting, Ms. Fraley-Monillas reported that the Edmonds police chief recently received an email from the County stating that as of Dec. 31 there will no longer be funding to provide police departments with Narcan/naloxone. Ms. Fraley-Monillas and Chair Stephanie Wright asked for staff to bring additional information forward at the next meeting for further discussion.

Staff reached out to Snohomish County Human Services for more background. Snohomish County Human Services collaborated with law enforcement to develop the Opiate Overdose Prevention Project. In April 2015, the first naloxone/Narcan training began and naloxone was distributed to trained officers. The County provided a breakdown of Narcan distributed to agencies since 2015, including total cost per year (Exhibit A).

Human Services staff notified law enforcement partners in an email on June 28 that there will no longer be funding for the Opiate Overdose Prevention Project beginning in January 2020. For the remainder of 2019, expired Narcan will be replaced, and Narcan deployed for a suspected overdose will also be replaced. After December 31, 2019, each law enforcement agency will be responsible for continuing to supply their personnel if they choose to continue.

District staff also reached out to the Washington State Department of Health regarding their new naloxone distribution program for “leave-behind” kits. Rather than funding naloxone for first responders to use it directly on a patient, the DOH program could fund kits to be left with family members/bystanders for individuals who refuse transport following an overdose. More details on this program are included in Exhibit B.