Coming together: Whatcom supports Lummi Nation’s fentanyl declaration
The Whatcom County Council has unanimously approved a resolution in support of the Lummi Indian Business Council’s (LIBC) state of emergency declaration in response to the fentanyl crisis.
The LIBC emergency declaration was made in September as the number of overdose deaths continues to rise locally.
As of Oct. 24, 91 overdose deaths had occurred in Whatcom County in 2023. The county is on pace to exceed last year’s number of overdose deaths. That number has significantly increased every year since 2018.
Nickolaus (Juts-Kadim) Lewis is an elected tribal leader for the Lummi Indian Business Council. He spoke at the County Council meeting on Tuesday night, thanking the council for its resolution.
“I hope this is something that brings us together more in our response. Fentanyl — it doesn’t just affect the people who are using. It affects our families, our community as a whole,” Lewis said. “We are normalizing, unfortunately, in our community that we are having to bury a friend, a relative, a child, a parent, far too often.”
This resolution, brought by county councilmember Ben Elenbaas, helps support coordination between local, state, and federal agencies and the tribe to fight the fentanyl crisis.
The LIBC has been working to address the fentanyl crisis by:
▪ Beginning the process of excluding and banishing all drug dealers on the reservation.
▪ Mandating training to all LIBC entities about fentanyl and identifying gaps in services.
▪ Creating a warrant list of drug dealers available to the community for easy identification and notification to law enforcement.
▪ Shutting down drug houses.
▪ Working on a youth messaging, prevention and counseling plan.
▪ Implementing DUI and drug checkpoints.
Lewis said he appreciated the support of the county but also urged council members to take further action by declaring its own state of emergency.
“Enough is enough. We can’t just say that this is a crisis. We need to act,” Lewis said.
Elenbaas, addressing the council that evening, said he was in support of passing a county emergency declaration in the future, but was concerned about it becoming too political.
“I was very passionate about (the resolution) passing because I wanted to support our neighbors in their actions,” Elenbaas said. “I don’t want to risk getting political and have it not pass. I would like whatever we come up with to be collaborative, not political and be able to pass unanimously to be as effective as possible.”
More than 290 Americans, on average, died every day from a drug overdose in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of overdose deaths has increased over time, with a sharp rise during the COVID-19 pandemic, including among American Indian (AI) and Alaska Native (AN) people.
In 2021, 1,358 non-Hispanic AI/AN people died by overdose, which was the highest rate of any racial or ethnic group.
A total of 17,502 Washington residents died from a drug overdose from 2007 to 2021, according to the State Department of Health. 68% of those deaths involved opioids. Since 2019 the annual number of opioid drug overdose deaths has almost doubled, from 827 deaths in 2019 to 1,619 in 2021.
This story was originally published October 30, 2023 at 9:53 AM.
