National Prescription Drug Take Back Day October 24: Safe medicine disposal saves lives

October 23, 2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

Do you have expired or unwanted medications in your medicine cabinet? October 24 is National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, a reminder to safely dispose of unwanted medicines.

Fentanyl found in black tar substances could lead to increases in fatal overdose

June 11, 2020.Reading time 4 minutes.

Recent instances of the combination of fentanyl with black tar heroin raises concern of the risk of fatal overdose.

Public Health calls for community safety as fentanyl-involved deaths rise

April 23, 2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

Public Health – Seattle & King County reminds our community that pills purchased off the street or online without a prescription likely contains illicit fentanyl—the drug that can lead to overdose and death. In just the past two weeks, the King County Medical Examiner’s Office identified 14 people whose lives were lost to drug overdose involving fentanyl.

Opening the conversation about opioids & older adults

November 21, 2019.Reading time 11 minutes.

People of all ages, genders, races and income levels fall victim to the opioid crisis. Older people in our community are no exception. People in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and beyond are filling opioid prescriptions at a rising rate, and increasingly running into trouble. At a convening hosted by Public Health – Seattle & […]

Overdose update: Recent increase in overdose deaths linked to fentanyl-laced pills and powders

September 26, 2019.Reading time 10 minutes.

Update October 3, 2019 – Public Health officials continue to be concerned about increases in fentanyl overdose deaths in King County, driven by fentanyl found in counterfeit pills and in powders. As we reported below, between mid-June and mid-September 2019, there have been 141 suspected and confirmed drug overdose deaths. Since September 26, 2019, there […]