SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. — Wednesday night, Snohomish County deputies saw a mass overdose inside jail walls. Seven inmates overdosed on fentanyl and had to be rushed to the hospital after lifesaving Narcan was administered.
It all went down in a matter of minutes.
Since January, Snohomish County deputies in the jail have carried Narcan, some of those seven inmates needed multiple doses to stay alive.
“This fentanyl is a game changer. Just a small amount, a little bit of powder they’re very creative the way they get it into our facility,” explained Snohomish County Sheriff Adam Fortney.
Sheriff Fortney said in his nearly 30 years in law enforcement he’s dealt with influxes of meth, heroin, and cocaine. Fentanyl is an especially hard challenge, and so is keeping it outside of the jail walls.
“I got to tell you we’re trying anything and everything we can,” said Sheriff Fortney. He added, “It’s everywhere right now. It is. The prices have dropped considerably. It’s about supply and demand, there’s a lot of supply of fentanyl.”
Wednesday night, it all came to a head when a deputy noticed one inmate act strange and bang his head against the wall.
“As soon as the corrections deputy started investigating that he noticed his cellmate, the other person was laying on a bed and he was non-responsive at the time, and it spiraled from there,” said the Sheriff.
Within 15 minutes, seven inmates had overdosed on the same drug.
“This was a big deal though and I acknowledge that. We had seven people overdosing from fentanyl in our facility, all seven lived. we never want this to happen but I will take that end result,” Sheriff Fortney said.
Sheriff Fortney said another inmate smuggled the fentanyl in wrapped in a piece of paper. He said the mass overdose is reflective of a larger issue outside jail walls.
“We can all drive around our streets and see the fentanyl epidemic firsthand,” said Sheriff Fortney.
Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers said, “Yes what happened in the jail is a good example but we’re losing I think a person a day in Snohomish County, King County is losing two people a day to this.”
So far this year, 80 people have died from an overdose in Snohomish County, more than half were from opioids.
“It’s noticeable that the problem is worsening. we’ve got a whole new stream of drugs, lethal drugs coming into our community,” said Somers.
Late last year, Snohomish County was one of several in the state to receive money from the settlement with opioid manufacturers. Officials said one of their first priorities is to get more Narcan to first responders.
“Naloxone (the generic name for the name brand Narcan) will keep them alive and hopefully we can keep them alive long enough to actually help them get out of the situation they’re in,” said Somers.
So far, the county has received $1.4 million to invest in its action plan, which also calls for educating the next generation before someone else does.
“We think we have to start talking to kids early to be prepared for what they’re really going to experience in life,” said Somers.
Officials admit they still need to learn a lot about this unprecedented crisis and be willing to pivot if necessary.
“Part of our program is understanding who’s being affected, where are they affected, what types of issues are they dealing with, what types of resources to we need to bring to help them,” Somers explained.
Snohomish County Council members were given the plan today and will vote on it in the coming weeks. County Executive Somers is confident it’ll pass. Sheriff Fortney also said they plan to break down the response to Wednesday night’s mass overdose incident and use it for future training.
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