Whatcom County and its larger cities will receive about $300,000 this year as part of its share of a settlement in a state lawsuit against three opioid distributors.
The money will be divided between the county government and the cities of Bellingham, Ferndale and Lynden, according to a county Health Department presentation to the county council Public Works & Health Committee on Tuesday. The money will go toward treatment and prevention programs to combat the county’s growing opioid epidemic, although it’s uncertain for now where exactly the money will be spent.
County health officials are asking local community organizations where the need is greatest, health department Program Specialist Joe Fuller told council members Tuesday. The county and cities must also coordinate with the state Department of Health, which could have $15 million or more available to spend this year from the settlement between state Attorney General Bob Ferguson and opioid distributors McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp.
More money is on the way. The agreement reached with the three distributors is just one of nine or 10 opioid-related settlements that are in the works, Fuller said.
“There may be two additional settlement payouts this year,” Fuller said, from Walmart and Purdue Pharma.
Local governments will receive nearly half of the initial $518 million settlement, but the money is being disbursed over 18 years, which makes Whatcom County’s total for this year about $300,000, Fuller said. Of that, Bellingham will get about $100,000, while Ferndale and Lynden will receive about $10,000 each.
“It’s not a lot but every little bit’s going to help, especially if we can start to plug some holes within the system,” Fuller said.
Opioid overdose deaths have increased in Washington state since 2016, but the death rate in the county has been below the state average in recent years: 10 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2019–21 compared to 16 per 100,000 statewide.
The county death rate from fentanyl and other opioids will show an increase in 2022. The county was on track for at least 15 deaths per 100,000 residents after the first seven months of the year, according to a report Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo presented to county council in September 2022. At the time, Elfo said it is hard to know whether opioid deaths would truly increase in 2022 because the medical examiner and PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center only started routinely testing for fentanyl as a cause of death last year.
