Officials- Fentanyl Surge Causing King County To Run Out of Body Storage

A shocking fact was unveiled by the King County Medical examiner's office recently.

 The county is running out of space to store fentanyl overdose victims

According to information released by AM 770 KTTH talk show host and commentator Jason Rantz, the King County Medical examiner's office is having a crisis.

The announcement. according to Rantz, came at a recent public health board meeting. Seattle-King County Public Health Director Dr. Faisal Khan was quoted as saying:

“The Medical Examiner’s Office is now struggling with the issue of storing bodies because the fentanyl-related death toll continues to climb."

According to county records given in Rantz's story, there have been 31 such deaths as of January 22nd, 2023.  King County saw 1,019 overdose fatalities in 2022, of which 686 were fentanyl-related. That's the highest overdose death rate ever recorded by the county.

The fentanyl issue is not just confined to King County or Seattle. All over WA State, we are seeing numbers skyrocket. This began after possession of narcotics such as fentanyl and other hard drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and meth were 'decriminalized' to make them basically misdemeanors instead of felonies.

 Will drugs be "re"-criminalized in the legislature this year?

According to bills that have been submitted, and information from Rantz's story, not likely. There has been a bill (or bills) introduced that would expand the availability of fentanyl test strips. According to the CDC, these are small strips of paper, perhaps not unlike a pool test strip kit, that can be laid on "all types" of drugs to determine the presence of fentanyl.

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 According to data from the University of Washington, fentanyl overdose deaths are the fastest-rising form of overdose from narcotics in our state, and have skyrocketed since 2019.,