3 men overdosed on the same weekend. What's fueling these Tri-Cities deaths?

Aug. 2—KENNEWICK, Wa. — Twelve people have died from drug overdoses in Franklin County this year.

That's just one less than the county saw for all of 2020, many of those from a combination of fentanyl and methamphetamine.

While Benton County is doing better, 21 people died of overdoses, one fewer than they had at this same time last year, which was a five-year high.

Fentanyl continues to drive the increase, accounting for the majority of deaths in Benton County for a second year in a row.

This comes as state officials worry that fentanyl could drive a record-setting number of overdoses statewide.

Preliminary data shows 418 overdoses in Washington state for the first three months of the year compared to 378 the year before.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Police and health officials say the drug is often used instead of less potent choices. For instance, the state warned people about blue pills marked with an "M" or a "30" often contain fentanyl even as people say they are oxycodone.

State health officials are asking people to carry Naloxone if they plan on taking any drug not purchased at a pharmacy. The state's top health officer put a standing order in place that makes the drug, also known as Narcan, available to anyone who wants to buy it.

Naloxone is given as an injection or a nasal spray to someone overdosing from opioids and temporarily blocks the effect. It has saved lives.

The order allows anyone to buy it without a prescription from any pharmacy or a syringe service program, such as Blue Mountain Heart to Heart at 8514 W. Gage Blvd., Kennewick.

"The first few minutes are critical in a potential overdose, especially in rural areas where it can take emergency medical services 10 minutes or longer to arrive. The majority of overdose reversals happen because a lay person was the first responder and administered naloxone," said Dr. Bob Lutz, state medical advisor for the Department of Health.

Franklin, Benton deaths

Franklin County Coroner Curtis McGary said the height of the deaths came earlier in the year, when three men died in a single weekend from a combination of methamphetamine and fentanyl.

Diego Aviles, 30, a computer programmer, was found in his home Feb. 20. His brother, Aron Aviles, 25, a construction worker, was discovered early the next morning at his home.

Then a third man, Alejandro Lopez, 24, died that night in Pasco.

No one has been arrested in connection with the deaths.

In Benton County, the 21 overdose deaths have been spread out over the year, with fentanyl accounting for 11 of the deaths, another eight were the result of methamphetamine.

While it's not known if it was the first time the victims used the drugs, three of those deaths were people not known to use fentanyl.

Benton County Coroner Bill Leach said programs for dealing with the increase in fentanyl addictions have taken a backseat to COVID in the past year.

Lockdowns and other pandemic restrictions isolated people with drug addictions and made treatment harder to get, according to an Associated Press report.

While nationwide there was an increase in the number of deaths, it's most likely being driven by people already struggling with addiction, Shannon Monnat, an association professor of sociology at Syracuse University who researches geographic patterns in overdoses, told the Associated Press.

Drug treatment

McGary sees a possibility to curb the increasing number of drug deaths — a treatment center.

Benton County Commissioner Jerome Delvin promised the center would be constructed whether it is in downtown Kennewick or near the county justice center remains uncertain though. The center would combine drug and mental health treatment and be the first of its kind in the Tri-Cities.

Both counties would have access to the facility.

What remains unclear is who would pay to operate it. Commissioners in both counties have proposed asking transit voters to shave 0.1 percent off of the sales tax that goes to Ben Franklin Transit and in return they would approve a 0.1 percent sales tax to fund operating portions of the center.

The commissioners could approve the tax for the the mental health and drug treatment center independently of the cut to the transit tax.

The transit board has not held a vote on whether it should be put on the ballot.

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