Fentanyl crisis in Grant County

EPHRATA – According to staff at the Grant County Jail, roughly 90% of detainees arrive with some substance abuse-related concern. Of those, roughly 70% have some level of dependency on fentanyl. The Grant County Morgue is seeing sadly similar increases.

“We’re starting to see (fentanyl addiction) as a huge issue inside the jail,” said Grant County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Chief Deputy Phil Coats. “And, from what I’m hearing talking to some of the people that are withdrawing from it is that it is so severe that actual suicide rates have actually gone up in jails because they don’t want to have to deal (with withdrawals.) It hurts too much.”

Growing problem

Nokey Pando, who leads the Grant County Recovery Navigator Program based in Moses Lake, said there are a variety of ways people can get addicted to any drug, including fentanyl. An opioid, fentanyl is an affordable, easily-accessed narcotic, making it a popular choice for those suffering from an addiction disorder.

Unfortunately, it is also highly addictive and is increasingly associated with fatalities countywide.

“Well, just sheer numbers have increased. I think … in 2018, we saw one fentanyl overdose,” said Grant County Coroner Craig Morrison. “This year, we’re probably going to see more like 30 or 40.”

Grant County isn’t alone in facing a crisis. According to the National Safety Council, a nonprofit organization that tracks safety concerns nationwide, about 77% of the nation’s overdose deaths in 2020 were due to opioids, including fentanyl. That year, the fentanyl category of opioids accounted for 53,480 overdose deaths nationally. The following year, data shows that number rose by 26% to 67,325.

Locally, Morrison said numbers are also increasing dramatically with only two fentanyl-related overdoses in Grant County in 2020. The following year, that number bumped up to nine fatalities directly related to fentanyl overdose, and then, in 2022 the number more than doubled to 23. A trend that is continuing with nine deaths already on record for Grant County as of June 15, putting the county on track to reach the 30 to 40 deaths Morrison predicted for this year.

That number doesn’t include fentanyl-related deaths that aren’t directly caused by an overdose. Autopsies and discussions with family members indicate to morticians that some of the people Morrison’s department takes in died indirectly from the drug or a substance laced with it. Driving under the influence of fentanyl can cause auto accidents that result in fatalities.

“They may be high on fentanyl, but they died from the trauma (of the car accident),” Morrison said.

Cuffed up

“Fentanyl is a cheap drug,” said Moses Lake Police Chief Kevin Fuhr. “You buy fentanyl pills between five and ten bucks a pill, and you’ve got somebody who’s using five to ten pills a day – so you spend 25 to 50 bucks a day, and you’re just a zombie.”

Whether the addict has gotten into using fentanyl because they got hooked on pain medications for a chronic condition or through recreational drug use, it becomes a demanding situation. Fuhr said the need to get the pills that will give the addict their next high is extraordinary. Fentanyl is a large part of why property crimes such as shoplifting, vehicle burglaries and catalytic converter thefts have risen in recent years, he said, which inevitably leads to interactions with law enforcement. Those interactions occur pretty much daily in Moses Lake, he said.

“Fentanyl is huge in the community right now,” Fuhr said.

Fuhr said that, whether the person is homeless or housed, the majority of crimes in Moses Lake have some connection to fentanyl.

Grant County Sheriff Joe Kriete said his officers see fentanyl impacting the people they interact with daily as well, whether that encounter happens on patrol or in the jail.

Oftentimes, Fuhr said, officers know the drug of choice for the person they are interacting with. They know when to have Narcan – an overdose countering medication – at the ready.

That situation isn’t specific to Moses Lake. Officers throughout Grant County, including Soap Lake, Ephrata, GCSO deputies and Quincy Police Department officers carry, and sometimes use, Narcan to save lives.

“We’ve used (Narcan) a couple of times on people that have overdosed, and we’ve had success with it,” said QPD Chief Ryan Green.

Fentanyl encounters are a risk for law enforcement officers as well, authorities said. Often, two packs of Narcan are given to street officers because they may need one for themselves as well as the suspects they encounter. Fentanyl can be dangerous to the officers if it becomes airborne or they come in contact with a large amount of the powdered form of the drug.

Behind bars

As those facing addictions come into contact with law enforcement, officers try to connect them with addiction treatment services when appropriate. That may be a connection with the Recovery Navigators program Pando operates or others in the community. However, when a crime occurs requiring an arrest, suspects end up at the Grant County Jail under Coats’s supervision and in the care of Cari Craghead, lead registered nurse at the jail’s clinic.

One of the first things Craghead and the other staff do is conduct an assessment of the inmate’s health, including asking whether the inmate is under the influence of narcotics.

“Are they going to go through withdrawal? Have they been through withdrawals previously,” Craghead said she asks new arrivals. “Unfortunately, many people still feel like they are going to get into further trouble if they admit to using drugs.”

That isn’t the case though, she said. The main thing is to make certain medical professionals are able to help inmates through the withdrawal symptoms they face. While methadone used to be a common medication to address withdrawal symptoms, patients are now given a drug known as naltrexone.

“I can get somebody detoxed off of fentanyl in seven to 10 days,” Craghead said.

That isn’t a quick fix though, said Pando. In his personal experience both as a recovery coach and as a recovering addict, the person has to want to stay clean and remain off the substance they’re addicted to – whether that’s methamphetamine, heroin or fentanyl.

Craghead said it can be especially difficult when an inmate is only at the jail for two or three days and then is released without detoxing fully. If the individual can stay longer, she can get them a little further on the road to recovery, provided they choose it.

People wanting to get clean can ask to be connected with the resources they need and medications such as naltrexone – also known by the brand name Vivitrol – taken in a monthly injection can help manage cravings and other symptoms.

However, finding a life free of addiction has to be a choice made by the addict, Pando said. That’s something that often has to be on the terms of the person facing the difficult recovery process.

“In my experience, it’s fear-based,” Pando said. “It’s like they’re scared to take that step and go to detox or to treatment for different reasons.”

Dead or alive

Efforts to curb fentanyl’s impact on the community have stepped up with a variety of recovery and prevention programs, but people facing substance use disorders have a difficult time moving forward, local officials said. This includes officials working in the jail or in recovery organizations.

Pando said the ideal situation is that the person be motivated toward recovery on their own, whether they’re pointed toward recovery resources because law enforcement is diverting them to recovery rather than punitive methods or the addict is homeless or suffering from mental health concerns.

“And they come in. We do an intake on them. We get them connected to detox – the detox place that we typically use fast-tracks people into inpatient (care) so there’s no gap between services,” he said.

Normally, when an inmate gets out of jail, there’s a gap between their incarceration and services, but Recovery Navigators works to expedite that to ensure that those recently released from jail or who are making first steps into sober living are less tempted to fall into old habits.

Pando and his coworkers at Recovery Navigators all know what it takes to get out of the cycle of addiction. He faced an addiction himself that caused cardiac problems. The other recovery coaches, Nick Baker and Bethany Austin, both faced addiction as well.

Austin said she originally moved from Alaska to Moses Lake to get clean and get away from drugs.

“It was a matter of time before I just fell back (into it) again,” Austin said.

While the geographic change was helpful, it also required the support she needed to get clean and stay clean. It was a difficult fight, she said, regardless of how she’d gotten off drugs, she’d fallen off the proverbial wagon multiple times.

“I never got the opportunity to go to a treatment facility or medical detox,” she said. “It’s always been, for me, going cold turkey either at home or in jail; and that was the biggest reason why I stayed in active addiction so long, was because of the withdrawals.”

That’s why she does what she does now, she said. She wants to help others get past the challenges more easily than the path she had to go down.

“I do what I do now because that was so big a part of me getting clean, one person not giving up on me,” she said.

Unfortunately, not all addicts choose the path that leads toward a better life, Morrison said. Families he speaks with often point toward fentanyl as a problem.

“If they’re honest with the investigation, they’ll let us know that they’ve been dealing with this for a long time,” he said.

He has one piece of advice for those who face the choice of getting clean or, most likely, coming to his department for examination.

“Stop taking the risk,” Morrison said. “Fentanyl kills people, and unfortunately, we have proof that it does.”

R. Hans “Rob” Miller may be reached at editor@columbiabasinherald.com. Find more local news at www.columbiabasinherald.com or on the Columbia Basin Herald app.

Correction: Medical staff at the jail may detox inmates in seven to ten days but cravings may last for the addicted person’s life. Cravings may be controlled medically through medications. This information has been incorporated above.

Signs of opiate overdose, including fentanyl:

Signs of overdose

Recognizing the signs of opioid overdose can save a life. Here are some things to look for:

Small, constricted “pinpoint pupils”

Falling asleep or losing consciousness

Slow, weak, or no breathing

Choking or gurgling sounds

Limp body

Cold and/or clammy skin

Discolored skin (especially in lips and nails)

Recovery resources:

Grant County has multiple avenues to get help when facing addiction, which can include speaking with a law enforcement officer about where to go to get treatment or support. The list below is not comprehensive, but these programs can connect those in need with additional resources.

Renew can also help at one of these locations:

Moses Lake

840 E. Plum Drive

509-765-9239

Emergency: 800-852-2923

Grand Coulee

322 Fortuyn Road

509-633-1471

Recovery Navigators:

406 S. Division Street

Moses Lake

800-810-4138

grantcounty@recoverynav.org

www.advancenw.org