Update on King County’s Response to the Opioid Overdose Crisis 

King County’s Five Priorities to Stop the Surge of Overdose Deaths were first announced in March 2024 as a coordinated cross-government response to slow the opioid overdose crisis.  Over the past two years, we’ve seen a promising overall decline in overdoses in King County; fatal overdoses decreased 32% from 2023 to 2025. Nonetheless, fatal overdoses in 2025 remain elevated compared to before 2022. Working in partnership, the Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) and Public Health Seattle & King County are investing in 13 actions to increase widespread access to treatment, medications, overdose reversal drugs, and places to go. 

Appointments for routine care are available, more teams are in the field conducting outreach and responding to help people who call 988, and King County has opened more safe places for people to go for treatment. The ORCA Center, King County’s first Crisis Care Center, a new residential treatment facility in Skyway all opened in the past 18 months. There are also 24 walk-in clinics to get Medication for Opioid Use, plus mobile health clinics and a prescription line for Buprenorphine. 

Here’s key progress we saw in 2025: 

• Public Health provided 78,900 naloxone kits to clients and community organizations, including through five public vending machines 

• Vending machine users reported using naloxone they got from a vending machine to respond to nearly 500 overdoses in 2025 

• Over 1,000 drug samples tested via King County drug checking services in 2025 

• 282 patients seen at the new ORCA Center its first four months 

• 4,400+ youth and adults received outpatient services for substance use disorder

• 1,750+ youth and adults received residential services for substance use disorder  

• 4,700 people received Medication for Opioid Use Disorder from DCHS-contracted providers 

• 5,450+ outreaches conducted by Mobile Rapid Response Crisis Teams for adults and youth—about twice as many as in 2024 

• 37,350+ outreaches provided by Emergency Services Patrol 

• 21,450+ outreaches provided by outreach teams at City Hall, Metro and Sound Transit stations 

• 750+ detentions for substance use disorder, with Designated Crisis Responders responding faster, in 11 hours on average, to urgent community referrals 

King County offers a full continuum of programs and services for people with substance use disorder (SUD). We want everyone to know that getting treatment for drug or alcohol use in 2026 is now easier than ever. Here’s a snapshot of services: 

Early intervention saves lives and connects more people to services:  

• Vending Machines: Vending machines at Peer Seattle, Peer Kent, Maleng Regional Justice Center, YouthCare Orion Center and Compass Day Center provide free, confidential access to naloxone, fentanyl test strips, and other harm reduction supplies.   

• Mobile Rapid Response Crisis Teams: Trained teams respond to help adults, youth and their families in a mental health or substance use related crisis. Call 988 to get their help.  

• Outreach Teams: These teams work across designated Metro and Sound Transit Stations, to help people they see experiencing a substance use crisis connect to treatment. 

The right treatment is available the moment you need it.  

• Next Day Appointments (NDAs) to get an assessment for substance use are available with a provider within 24 hours. Call or text 988 or the Washington Recovery Line to connect: 1.866.789.1511 

• Routine care is widely available for people on Medicaid. Search for a provider near you. 

• King County contracts with community providers at 75 locations countywide who offer treatment for substance use disorder. Some providers specialize in working with specific populations like Therapeutic Health Services, Asian Counseling and Referral Service, Consejo Counseling and Referral Service, Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, Sea Mar Behavioral Health, and the Seattle Indian Health Board. 

• Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) is increasingly available: Simply call the Bup Prescription Line: 206-289-0287. You can also visit one of 24 walk-in clinics. Find one through our MOUD Locator: https://search.warecoveryhelpline.org/ 

New Treatment Facilities: Take a look at new treatment facilities that are now open.  

• 24/7 Walk-In Urgent Care is Available at Our First Crisis Care Center in Kirkland: Connections Kirkland offers urgent care for a wide range of mental health and substance use challenges. Anyone can walk-in anytime, and you don’t need insurance.  
  
• The new Opioid Recovery & Care Access (ORCA) Center is a safe place where people can recover after an overdose, start treatment, and take the first steps toward stability. Located in Downtown Seattle, support is available 24/7. 

• A new residential treatment facility in Skyway opened just over a year ago, making local beds available for people who need longer term substance use and mental health treatment. A total of 184 beds for residential SUD treatment are available for King County residents covered by Medicaid (also known as Apple Health), with some facilities reporting no waitlist depending on treatment needs. 

• Friends of Youth opened Bridge Pointe last Fall providing transitional housing for young adults 18-24 who have left inpatient treatment (including SUD), working to find them long term housing and employment.    

• Coming Soon: A larger sobering center will open in SODO this year to help more people sleep of the effects of intoxication, and the Seattle Indian Health Board will open the Thunderbird Treatment Center, a new 94-bed treatment facility on Vashon Island.

Recovery programs help keep people thriving in recovery, including: 

• Recovery Academy  is the only public sober high school in Washington and is designed to help teens and young people in recovery from substance use disorder. 

• Recovery Groups including at the Recovery Café, Hero House, King County Recovery Coalition, Peer WA and more.  

• Peer Training: King County is helping people in recovery enter the workforce as peers. There are so many great opportunities to join the behavioral health workforce right now through paid apprenticeships, and other training programs.  

Treatment works, we see people recover every day. We remain committed to continuing to expand treatment in the coming years, including adding four more Crisis Care Centers, including one for youth, as well as more local residential treatment beds for longer term care. 

ICYMI: A Year Later: Update on King County’s Five-Priority Strategy to Prevent Overdoses & Expand Treatment