Mayor Durkan announces citywide actions to reduce synthetic opioid overdoses
In response to the nationwide opioid epidemic and growing prominence of fentanyl-related overdoses among youth and young adults, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced new plans to promote fentanyl awareness and increase accessibility to life-saving drugs and training in the city.
"There is no part of Seattle that is not touched by the opioid crisis. Every part of our city and region has been touched by this crisis," Durkan said in a press conference on Jan. 30.
The action comes as fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine, is increasingly being found in counterfeit opioid pills. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that fentanyl can also be mixed with heroin or cocaine, and found a 47% increase in synthetic opioid-related overdoses from 2016 to 2017.
Eight teenagers in King County died from fentanyl-related overdoses in 2019.
https://www.seattlepi.com/local/seattlenews/article/Mayor-Durkan-announces-citywide-actions-on-15017413.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletterspi&utm_term=spi
