Spokane County, city meet to coordinate response to ‘crisis’ of opioid epidemic

Leaders of both the city and the county met Friday in a rare joint meeting to address the opioid crisis in the Spokane area.

Spokane County Commission chair Mary Kuney called the meeting between the city council, county commission and mayor “unprecedented.”

“It is important we all come together. We’re showing we all care about this issue,” Kuney said.

The meeting was significant for the two governmental bodies that have at times found themselves at cross purposes.

“The opioid epidemic is a crisis that requires a unified response. More than ever, we collectively have the power to enact meaningful change,” said Spokane City Council President Betsy Wilkerson.

Over the next 20 years, the Spokane region is expected to receive at least $40 million in opioid settlement funds across various governments.

Deputy city administrator Maggie Yates said she and a county counterpart have been working together on the issue .

“We’re looking at where we might align these visions and these different plans and how we can leverage these resources that are limited, that are finite, and how can we create a trajectory into a sustainable solution,” she said.

There were 352 deaths caused or related to drugs – approximately 5% of all deaths in the county last year, Spokane County Medical Examiner Dr. Veena Singh said at the meeting.

“It is a staggering cost of people who are dying here of overdoses. To put that on the spectrum of deaths, that’s about five times as many people that died of a motor vehicle crash,” she said.

Singh also noted more overdose deaths occur off the street than on it.

“People see the unhoused using drugs because they are out in the open. But what they don’t see is that actually more people are using drugs in their cars and their workplaces,” she said.

Wilkerson said that “goes against the narrative” often heard about the homeless.

“The narrative is that this is just homeless people that are dying on the streets. But there are people living indoors that are also overdosing,” she said.

In response, council member Michael Cathcart said that data may be different when looking specifically in the City of Spokane, where many of the unhoused are concentrated.

“I think the countywide numbers are probably very different. Because some jurisdictions don’t have quite the same populations of homeless as we do in the city,” he said.

Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels said calls related to deploying Narcan had “increased fivefold” between 2022 and 2024.

“Overdose calls make up a significant portion of medical calls for both fire and police. That shouldn’t surprise anybody. It is at least more than a third,” he said. “This opioid epidemic is costing our emergency services system a tremendous amount of money.”

The rate of overdose calls has not slowed in 2025. According to Nowels, there have been 137 fentanyl-related overdose calls this year among all emergency services in the county – a 49% increase from this time last year.

Singh noted these increases are “contrary to national trends,” which have seen opioid overdoses decrease for the first time in years.