Spokane Mayor proposes using $1 million of opioid settlement funds on treatment

Emry Dinman, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.
·2 min read

Mar. 25—Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown wants to spend $1 million in opioid settlement funds to enhance the fire department's social work program and to create intensive services for people addicted to opiates and frequently commit crimes.

Spokane and Spokane County will receive tens of millions of dollars over the next two decades as part of settlements between the state of Washington and opioid distributors and the pharmacies that sold the addictive pills.

The city will get around $13.3 million over the next 17 years, while the county will receive roughly $24 million. Spokane Valley will get nearly $300,000, Liberty Lake $168,000 and Cheney $535,000.

Local jurisdictions can agree to pool their funds through a regional Opioid Abatement Council or use the money for approved purposes that help mitigate the opioid addiction crisis.

Brown said in a Monday interview that she believes there are still opportunities to partner with the county and other regional entities on bigger programs, but that she wants to begin using the settlement money more quickly and felt a unilateral city-level program could better accomplish that.

If approved by the Spokane City Council, $500,000 would be dedicated to enhancing the fire department's Community Assistance Response, or CARES program. Created in 2008, the CARES program is a social work program that helps people who frequently use 911 as a form of health care connect to resources that can help alleviate the root cause of their ongoing problems.

The additional funds could pay to hire a social worker, an addiction treatment professional and a case manager, more than doubling the program's caseload capacity to 1,500 cases, as well as help bolster existing services.

Brown wants another $500,000 to create a High Utilizer and Complex Care Initiative, contracting with a provider to provide intensive addiction treatment services for people who are chronically charged with crimes.

Brown said a similar program used to exist in Spokane but it "fell apart" for reasons she didn't know.

"This is not exactly a new concept, that's why it's coming together relatively quickly," Brown said.