OLYMPIA, Wash.- Yakima and Spokane may soon be included in a federal initiative addressing drug-related violence and overdoses.
State Attorney General Bob Ferguson has sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland urging that Yakima, Spokane and Everett be included in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s “Operation Overdrive.”
In his letter Ferguson says that designating Everett, Spokane or Yakima as Operation Overdrive sites could have ripple effects that benefit surrounding communities and areas, due to their central locations and easy access to the Interstate highway system.
“We must foster strong partnerships and share intelligence among local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to focus our tools where they can have the most impact,” Ferguson said.
Using national crime statistics to identify areas of high drug-related violence and overdoses “Operation Overdrive” then devotes law enforcement resources to those areas.
Washington state experienced the largest percentage increase in drug overdose deaths in the nation from February 2022 through February 2023 according to a press release from the AG’s Office, with fentanyl overdoses in Yakima doubling over a three year span from 2019-2022.
In Spokane County overdoses from fentanyl and other opioids went from fewer than 10 in 2019 to 101 in 2021 according to statistics from the AG’s Office.
