SEATTLE — The task force formed to help fight a heroin epidemic in King County has recommended the opening of public, supervised sites where addicts can use heroin.
The sites would be the first of their kind in the country.
Recommendations released by the task force Thursday call for a pilot program to establish two so-called “community health-engagement locations” where users can inject heroin under medical supervision as an alternative to public restrooms, alleys and homeless encampments.
“One of the driving ideas behind this is creating a safe space where we can get people the medical, prevention and treatment services already provided elsewhere,” said Brad Finegood, committee co-chairman and assistant director of the King County Behavioral Health and Recovery department.
The move was expected by the task force formed earlier this year by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and King County Executive Dow Constantine.
The committee’s recommendations also call for the expansion of existing drug-treatment and prevention programs, increasing access to the overdose-prevention drug Naloxone, and undoing state laws that cap the number of patients that can be treated at methadone clinics.
The release follows reports of a countywide drop in heroin-related deaths. Overdose deaths connected to heroin use fell by 15 percent in King County last year, but county health officials stress that heroin abuse remains a significant problem.
Heroin was involved in 132 deaths in the county in 2015, down from a peak of 156 deaths in 2014. But that’s higher than the 99 heroin deaths in 2013.
Proponents of supervised consumption sites say one or more could reduce overdose deaths and the number of used needles that litter sidewalks and alleys, as well as the costly use of the emergency-medical services.
If given the green light by city and county authorities, the sites would be the first inside the United States. Similar facilities have operated in Vancouver, B.C., for the last 13 years with no record of overdose deaths.
Development of the sites in King County face several hurdles, both legal and monetary. The choosing of sites is also expected to be debated as officials work on strategies for managing homeless encampments where use of heroin and other drugs is commonplace.
The committee is recommending that one of the sites should be outside Seattle, with the other established near an “overdose hot spot.”
“There is no doubt about it that the only way to make this effective is to locate it near where people are using,” Finegood said.
The committee released its recommendations Thursday at the University of Washington, followed by a news conference attended by Murray and Constantine.
