Mr. Bowser, a Democrat, has said he plans to reinstate the state of emergency soon, but advocates and officials who pushed for the measure last year expressed disappointment that the state of emergency was allowed to end. , called on the district to strengthen its response. To overdose.
“The problem is moving faster than they can keep up,” said Ambrose Lane Jr., director of the DC Health Alliance Network, which advocates for better outcomes for communities of color.
Bowser declared the first state of emergency in November under pressure to take action amid growing public scrutiny of the district's strategy to combat serious drug abuse. She has the power to declare a 15-day state of emergency, which the council can extend.
Health and Human Services Deputy Mayor Wayne Turnage declined to say why Bowser waited to reimpose the order until it expired. Council President Phil Mendelsohn (D) said he was concerned that some members would give Bowser carte blanche to circumvent procurement rules and other special powers granted under public emergencies. He said the council limited the extension to 90 days.
Under the order, city officials quickly awarded $3.6 million in contracts for eight projects, including a substance abuse clinic at Children's National Hospital, housing for people in recovery, and a radio and social media campaign, Turnage said. Stated.Washington DC Fire and Rescue Department City officials also began sharing non-fatal overdose data in real time.
Fatal opioid overdoses in the area have more than doubled since 2018, when the Bowser administration announced a treatment and prevention plan known as “LIVE.” length. DC., an update that officials had been promising to release for three months. The surge is in line with a national trend that has emerged as the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl outpaces the drug supply.
The emergency order was part of the city's efforts to combat drug abuse, including opening stabilization centers and convening an Opioid Abatement Advisory Committee to distribute settlements from opioid lawsuits nationwide. The commission, made up of agency leaders, health care providers and people in recovery, has held six two-hour public meetings since late October to discuss procedural rules such as how to address conflicts of interest and I spent a lot of time searching for answers. Government agencies talk about spending choices.
Councilor Christina Henderson (I), Chair of the City Council Health Committee and a member of the Abatement Committee, said that she would like to see the Council at large for at least another month to allow more room for deliberation. It asked Congress to keep the order in place.
“We didn't have the time, but it's unfortunate because I think we could have done more with opioids,” Henderson said. “Everyone was warning us that we didn't have enough time.”
On Wednesday, the day before the emergency order expires, the Opioid Abatement Commission tasked the Office of Behavioral Health, the agency leading the city's response to the opioid crisis, with up to 13 prevention, harm reduction, and treatment priorities developed. He directed that $4.5 million be spent. In a breakout session.
Commission Chairman Chad Jackson said he hopes the measure will persuade elected officials to extend the state of emergency.
“We put it in the mayor's hands in hopes that that's what he was looking for to extend this state of emergency,” Jackson said Friday. “We wanted to act as quickly as possible to get the authorities to cooperate.”
Even with access to federal funding, local agencies and health care providers struggle to effectively address the fundamental needs of addicts, such as housing, jobs, and medication treatment.
On Wednesday night, about 12 hours after officials moved forward with the top priority, Department of Behavioral Health Director Barbara Bazelon emailed a list of contracts to Turnage at 11:29 p.m. That includes five grants of $100,000 and grants of $490,000 to faith-based organizations. Turnage said in a phone interview Friday night that she would give FEMS $350,000 to hire more peer specialists and build a new drop-in center for residents in need. Ta. The list also includes $425,640 in housing costs for those who are sober and “abstinence-free,” according to the report.
The next night, at 8:17 p.m., Bazelon again emailed Turnage two more contracts. $460,000 to Children's National Hospital and $500,000 to Octane Public, a Washington, D.C.-based company, to treat youth with substance use disorders, particularly those referred from the justice system. Turnage said they have built relationships to launch a prevention campaign that includes radio and social media marketing.
Turnage said Bowser plans to announce another 15-day emergency order next week to expedite the disbursement of the remaining $15 million in opioid lawsuit settlements currently in the city's coffers.
The district is set to receive an estimated $80 million through 2024 in multistate settlement agreements with companies that prosecutors say profited from the manufacturing, distribution and marketing of opioids that fueled the addiction crisis. Of this amount, approximately $19 million has already been received.
Turnage talked a lot about opioid use disorder, including how people often overdose alone, making it difficult to break the cycle of abuse.
“While we are working with a degree of urgency, we must also be mindful of the inherent difficulties of this challenge,” he said. “Sadly, the number of opioid deaths seen in Washington, D.C., is mirrored in many urban areas across the country.”
Real-time data sharing between DC fire departments and for an overview of city government. FEMS spokesperson Noah Gray said the order will remain in place.
“The opioid crisis is a serious problem that we are working to combat and respond to every day,” FEMS Secretary John A. Donnelly Sr. said in a statement. “Addressing substance abuse by residents and visitors is and will continue to be a priority for the district.”
