11.20.24

WA Communities Get $9.6M to Treat Substance Abuse & Help Inmates Avoid Relapse Upon Release

Spokane Sheriff also receives $945k to incorporate AI analysis of bodycam footage to improve training

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) announced that two counties and a health agency in the State of Washington will receive a total of $9.6 million for programs aimed at treating people with substance use disorders and helping inmates with substance use disorders re-integrate into their communities upon release without relapsing.

The grants come from the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP). Recipients include:

$7 million for the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA): This grant will help the HCA develop and implement an initiative to provide several Washington state jurisdictions with funding and technical support to bolster their substance use treatment and response efforts. The efforts are aimed at helping people currently incarcerated, as well as those making the transition back into their communities upon release. The program includes expanding access to medication-assisted treatment, as well as providing opioid overdose training to law enforcement and mobile crisis responders.

“We need a comprehensive approach to address the substance use crisis, with the law enforcement and health care sectors working together,” said Sen. Cantwell. “This investment will help our state fund collaborative, evidence-based steps including overdose training for law enforcement, support for people with substance use disorders when they get out of jail, and medication-assisted treatment for incarcerated people.”

$1.6 million for Pierce County: This grant will help Pierce County establish a Mobile Opioid Outreach and Treatment project, which will use a mobile van to deliver evidence-based opioid treatment including medication-assisted treatment, wound care, basic health care, and telehealth services for medical and behavior health. The van will be fully equipped to provide the appropriate medical and counseling services for individuals seeking treatment for opioid use disorder. Pierce County expects this project to decrease opioid overdoses, opioid-related emergency response calls, and opioid-related deaths with opioid outreach and treatment services. Mobile opioid treatment services will be provided in suburban and rural areas of Pierce County.

"Mobile units are an effective and quick way to deliver substance use treatment and provide emergency response, especially in rural and underserved areas. This funding will give Pierce County another option in their toolbox to respond to the fentanyl crisis and save lives," Sen. Cantwell said.

$1 million for Grays Harbor County: This grant will help expand the substance use disorder treatment available in the Grays Harbor County Jail by expanding the types of medications available for opioid use disorder, implementing evidence-based mental health screening, and helping re-entry peer counselors identify supports like housing for people being released from incarceration.

"Jails and prisons play an increasingly important role in providing treatment for substance use disorders. This funding will ensure that Grays Harbor County Jail can continue to provide evidence-based care -- and that people who receive treatment have enough community support to prevent relapses and reincarceration," Sen. Cantwell said.

In addition to the three treatment-focused grants awarded today, DOJ also announced a $945,520 grant from the FY24 Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program for the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office to launch a demonstration project that will use artificial intelligence technology to analyze footage from the department’s approximately 260 body-worn cameras and incorporate findings to improve into the department’s training on de-escalation tactics and use of force mitigation.  

“As Spokane grows, its law enforcement training needs to keep up,” said Sen. Cantwell. “With this funding, Spokane County Sheriff’s Office will harness AI tools to integrate systematic body-worn camera data to measure, evaluate, and optimize law enforcement training.”

Sen. Cantwell is pursuing every avenue to halt the flow of illicit drugs in our communities and help people with substance use disorders.

In May 2024, Sen. Cantwell introduced the Fatal Overdose Reduction Act, a bipartisan bill that would expand the Washington-state-developed, low-barrier fentanyl treatment pilot program across the United States. In September, she introduced the Stop Smuggling Illicit Synthetic Drugs on U.S. Transportation Networks Act of 2024, which would crack down on the trafficking of illicit synthetic drugs using the U.S. transportation network. Also in September, she introduced the Opioid Overdose Data Collection Enhancement Act, which would expand COSSUP and direct DOJ to award grants to states, local governments, law enforcement task forces, and tribes to adopt and implement an overdose data collection program. In October, Sen. Cantwell held a press conference in Spokane with Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall and Sheriff Nowels on the anti-trafficking legislation. Chief Kevin Hall and Sheriff John Nowels have endorsed Sen. Cantwell’s bill along with numerous elected officials and law enforcement leaders from across the State of Washington. Earlier this week, the Spokane City Council unanimously endorsed Sen. Cantwell’s anti-trafficking bill.

In 2023 and 2024, Sen. Cantwell conducted a listening tour across 10 communities in the State of Washington to hear from people on the front lines of the fentanyl epidemic – health care providers, law enforcement, local leaders, and folks with lived experience of fentanyl addiction – to hear about legislative solutions that would help combat the crisis.

A full timeline of Sen. Cantwell’s actions to combat the fentanyl crisis is available HERE.