Month: May 2018

SHAME ON HOMELESS AND CITY COUNCIL: Armed guards watch over North Seattle cemetery after vandalism, homeless complaints

SEATTLE – For the first time, armed guards watched over the children placing flags at historic Jewish cemeteries in North Seattle Wednesday night.

Families said they were forced to bring in security because of ongoing complaints about homeless campers, vandalism and just on Tuesday, people having sex on the tombstones.

Every year for a more than a decade, children come to honor the sacrifice of fallen veterans just before Memorial Day, but this year there’s a first at the Bikur Cholim and historic Sephardic Jewish cemeteries—armed security guards. Former Israeli Defense Forces keeping a close eye on the children placing 200 flags on veteran’s graves ahead of the holiday.

President Donald J. Trump’s Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse and Reduce Drug Supply and Demand

HEALTHCARE

We will work to strengthen vulnerable families and communities, and we will help to build and grow a stronger, healthier, and drug-free society.

President Donald J. Trump

ADDRESSING THE DRIVING FORCES OF THE OPIOID CRISIS: President Donald J. Trump’s Initiative to Stop Opioids Abuse and Reduce Drug Supply and Demand will confront the driving forces behind the opioid crisis.

President Trump’s Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse will address factors fueling the opioid crisis, including over-prescription, illicit drug supplies, and insufficient access to evidence-based treatment, primary prevention, and recovery support services.

The President’s Opioid Initiative will:

Reduce drug demand through education, awareness, and preventing over-prescription.
Cut off the flow of illicit drugs across our borders and within communities.

Save lives now by expanding opportunities for proven treatments for opioid and other drug addictions.
REDUCE DEMAND AND OVER-PRESCRIPTION: President Trump’s Opioid Initiative will educate Americans about the dangers of opioid and other drug use and seek to curb over-prescription.

Launch a nationwide evidence-based campaign to raise public awareness about the dangers of prescription and illicit opioid use, as well as other drug use.

Support research and development efforts for innovative technologies and additional therapies designed to prevent addiction and decrease the use of opioids in pain management.

This will include supporting research and development for a vaccine to prevent opioid addiction and non-addictive pain management options.

Reduce the over-prescription of opioids which has the potential to lead Americans down a path to addiction or facilitate diversion to illicit use.

Implement a Safer Prescribing Plan to achieve the following objectives:

Cut nationwide opioid prescription fills by one-third within three years.

Ensure that 75 percent of opioid prescriptions reimbursed by Federal healthcare programs are issued using best practices within three years, and 95 percent within five years.

Ensure that at least half of all Federally-employed healthcare providers adopt best practices for opioid prescribing within two years, with all of them doing so within five years.

Leverage Federal funding opportunities related to opioids to ensure that States transition to a
nationally interoperable Prescription Drug Monitoring Program network.

CUT OFF THE SUPPLY OF ILLICIT DRUGS: President Trump’s Opioid Initiative will crack down on international and domestic illicit drug supply chains devastating American communities:

Keep dangerous drugs out of the United States.

Secure land borders, ports of entry, and water ways against illegal smuggling.
Require advance electronic data for 90 percent of all international mail shipments (with goods) and consignment shipments within three years, in order for the Department of Homeland Security to flag high-risk shipments.

Identify and inspect high-risk shipments leveraging advanced screening technologies and by using drug-detecting canines.

Test and identify suspicious substances in high-risk international packages to quickly detect and remove known and emerging illicit drugs before they can cause harm.
Engage with China and expand cooperation with Mexico to reduce supplies of heroin, other illicit opioids, and precursor chemicals.

Advance the Department of Justice (DOJ) Prescription Interdiction and Litigation (PIL) Task Force to fight the prescription opioid crisis. The PIL Task Force will:

Expand the DOJ Opioid Fraud and Abuse Detection Unit’s efforts to prosecute corrupt or criminally negligent doctors, pharmacies, and distributors.

Aggressively deploy appropriate criminal and civil actions to hold opioid manufacturers accountable for any unlawful practices.

Shut down illicit opioid sales conducted online and seize any related assets.
Scale up internet enforcement efforts under DOJ’s new Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement (J-CODE) team.

Strengthen criminal penalties for dealing and trafficking in fentanyl and other opioids:
DOJ will seek the death penalty against drug traffickers, where appropriate under current law.
The President also calls on Congress to pass legislation that reduces the threshold amount of drugs needed to invoke mandatory minimum sentences for drug traffickers who knowingly distribute certain illicit opioids that are lethal in trace amounts.

HELP THOSE STRUGGLING WITH ADDICTION: President Trump’s Opioid Initiative will help those struggling with addiction through evidence-based treatment and recovery support services:

Work to ensure first responders are supplied with naloxone, a lifesaving medication used to reverse overdoses.

Leverage Federal funding opportunities to State and local jurisdictions to incentivize and improve nationwide overdose tracking systems that will help resources to be rapidly deployed to hard-hit areas.
Expand access to evidence-based addiction treatment in every State, particularly Medication-Assisted Treatment for opioid addiction.

Seek legislative changes to the law prohibiting Medicaid from reimbursing residential treatment at certain facilities with more than 16 beds.

In the meantime, continue approving State Medicaid demonstration projects that waive these barriers to inpatient treatment.

Provide on-demand, evidence-based addiction treatment to service members, veterans and their families eligible for healthcare through the Departments of Defense or Veterans Affairs.
Leverage opportunities in the criminal justice system to identify and treat offenders struggling with addiction.

Screen every Federal inmate for opioid addiction at intake.

For those who screen positive and are approved for placement in residential reentry centers, facilitate naltrexone treatment and access to treatment prior to and while at residential reentry centers and facilitate connection to community treatment services as needed.

Scale up support for State, Tribal, and local drug courts in order to provide offenders struggling with addiction access to evidence-based treatment as an alternative to or in conjunction with incarceration, or as a condition of supervised release.

StopOverdose.org

http://stopoverdose.org/

Opioid trends across Washington state

Death data from the Washington State Department of Health Center for Health Statistics are combined with population data from the Office of Financial Management to create rates of death. Data include only deaths for which an underlying cause of death was determined to be any opioid. For more information on data, see details at the end of the page.

ST. JOHNSBURY, VT – FEBRUARY 06: Drugs are prepared to shoot intravenously by a user addicted to heroin on February 6, 2014 in St. Johnsbury Vermont. Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin recently devoted his entire State of the State speech to the scourge of heroin. Heroin and other opiates have begun to devastate many communities in the Northeast and Midwest leading to a surge in fatal overdoses in a number of states. As prescription painkillers, such as the synthetic opiate OxyContin, become increasingly expensive and regulated, more and more Americans are turning to heroin to fight pain or to get high. Heroin, which has experienced a surge in production in places such as Afghanistan and parts of Central America, has a relatively inexpensive street price and provides a more powerful affect on the user. New York City police are currently investigating the death of the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman who was found dead last Sunday with a needle in his arm. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Any opioid: primary categories and sub-categories
Probable heroin
Other opioids
Commonly prescribed opioids
Methadone
Other natural and semi-synthetic opioids: Oxycodone, codeine, morphine, etc.
Other synthetic opioids: Pethidine, tramadol, fentanyl and analogues, etc.
Other and unspecified narcotics, including opium
Deaths attributed to any opioid: 72% increase

As a whole, opioid deaths regardless of subtype occur throughout the state. Modest declines in the opioid death rate in Chelan and Spokane Counties (and some smaller counties) between 2002-2004 and 2014-2016 have been outweighed by increases in most counties, particularly more populous counties. The later period reflects a decline in deaths from intervening years–opioid deaths peaked in 2009 at 720 statewide.

Starbucks: The New Homeless & Addict Campground?

“I’ve definitely done it. So I don’t see a problem with it,” said Nicole McDonald.

“I think it should have always been that way, especially because of the way racism is you know,” said Desiree Mollere.

But some customers have other concerns.

“If you go into a business and you just sit there and you don’t buy anything you are taking up space at the table,” said Melrose Larry Green.

“You could end up having a squatters problem where you just have people coming and staying. I mean if they are going to do that they need to limit how long people can stay in there,” said Joe Selva.

“I’ve definitely done it. So I don’t see a problem with it,” said Nicole McDonald.

“I think it should have always been that way, especially because of the way racism is you know,” said Desiree Mollere.

But some customers have other concerns.

“If you go into a business and you just sit there and you don’t buy anything you are taking up space at the table,” said Melrose Larry Green.

UW Health Fair – Opioid Overdose Prevention Education & Naloxone Distribution

UW Health Fair – Opioid Overdose Prevention Education & Naloxone Distribution
May 22, 2018, 11am-3pm
UW Red Square, 4063 Spokane Ln, Seattle

DCHS and the Alcohol & Drug Abuse Institute/Center for Opioid Safety Education will provide information on opioid overdose prevention education, provide training to reverse overdose using Naloxone, and distribute 50 Naloxone nasal sprays to (Naloxone-trained) UW Health Fair participants.

(Supplies of Naloxone are limited, and have been provided through a grant awarded to King County DCHS through Adapt Pharma, to support community-based, opioid overdose prevention awareness events.)

Visit the Website

NARCAN Webiste

First lady Melania Trump promotes anti-bullying campaign

First lady Melania Trump is headed to the Detroit suburbs Monday to speak to middle school students and participate in a ‘No One Eats Alone’ anti-bullying event.

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Prison Reform and Redemption Act 2018

LIVE: President Donald Trump Delivers Remarks At Prison Reform Summit – May 18, 2018 | CNBC

Summary: H.R.3356 — 115th Congress (2017-2018)All Information (Except Text)
There is one summary for H.R.3356. Bill summaries are authored by CRS.

Introduced in House (07/24/2017)
Prison Reform and Redemption Act

This bill directs the Department of Justice to develop the Post-Sentencing Risk and Needs Assessment System for use by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to assess prisoner recidivism risk; guide housing, grouping, and program assignments; and incentivize and reward participation in and completion of recidivism reduction programs and productive activities.

It amends the federal criminal code to:

require the BOP to implement the Post-Sentencing Risk and Needs Assessment System;
establish prerelease custody procedures for prisoners who, among other things, earn time credits for successfully completing recidivism reduction programs or productive activities;
prohibit, subject to specified exceptions, the use of restraints on federal prisoners who are pregnant or in postpartum recovery; and
broaden the duties of probation and pretrial services officers to include court-directed supervision of sex offenders conditionally released from civil commitment.
The BOP must:

incorporate de-escalation techniques into its training programs;
report on its ability to treat heroin and opioid abuse through medication-assisted treatment;
establish pilot programs on youth mentorship and service to abandoned, rescued, or vulnerable animals; and
designate a release preparation coordinator at each facility that houses prisoners.
The bill prohibits monitoring the contents of an electronic communication between a prisoner at a BOP facility and the prisoner’s attorney.

It amends the Second Chance Act of 2007 to reauthorize through FY2022 and modify eligibility criteria for an elderly offender early release pilot program.

Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati Correctional Officer Self-Protection Act of 2017

The bill amends the federal criminal code to require the BOP to allow federal correctional officers to securely store and carry concealed firearms on BOP premises outside the security perimeter of a prison.

Perry Tarrant for New Seattle Police Chief

(reposted from February 1, 2018)

This dedicated officer is incredible with an outstanding performance Bio…

WE NEED TO PETITION FOR ASSISTANT SPD POLICE CHIEF PERRY TARRANT TO BECOME SEATTLE’S NEW POLICE CHIEF!

Assistant Chief Perry Tarrant
Assistant Chief – Special Operations Bureau
Assistant Chief Perry Tarrant commands the Special Operations Bureau.

Perry Tarrant has more 36 years of law enforcement experience. He began his career with the Tucson Police Department working Patrol, Canine, SWAT, and Bomb Squad. He also supervised or commanded these areas as well as Motorcycles, Internal Affairs Investigations, Aviation (with a Commercial Pilot license), Criminal Investigations, Emergency Management, and Homeland Security – Counterterrorism. Perry coordinated the City of Yakima PD’s Gang Initiative and community-based resources before coming to Seattle.

Perry Tarrant joined the Seattle Police as an Assistant Chief during the Department’s DOJ Settlement Agreement. He was part of a White House law enforcement advisory committee created by President Obama and chaired by Vice President Biden. He presented before Congress on civil rights, hate crimes, community policing, use of force, and 21st Century Policing. Additionally, he serves on the Executive Board of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) and was elected its President for 2016 and 2017. He is a member of the Breakfast Group and Red Tail Hawks, which are local community organizations focused on youth mentoring. He is also serves as a board member of Choose 180, a program that works to keep youth out of the criminal justice system.

Assistant Chief Tarrant received his Master’s Degree in Public Administration with a Leadership Emphasis from Northern Arizona University, and his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science (Minor in Counterterrorism & Human Migration) from The University of Arizona. He holds additional academic certificates in Criminal Justice Graduate Studies from the University of Virginia and a Certificate of Study in Human Trafficking from The Ohio State University. He has completed the FBI National Academy, the Senior Management Institute for Police, and NOBLE’s CEO mentoring program. He is a FEMA Incident Commander and provided leadership for National Special Security Events such as national political party conventions, G-20 summit, and Unified Command for Super Bowl XLVIII.

Walgreens: The opioid epidemic in our nation. #It Ends with Us.

The opioid epidemic in our nation has reached a critical point.

Every day thousands of teenagers and young adults find themselves spiraling down a path of addiction. Opioids are legal pain relievers that are typically prescribed for teens and young adults after major injuries and surgeries. Due to the addictive nature of these drugs — many young adults find themselves switching to illegal usage of heroin when their prescriptions run out, as it is less expensive and easier to access. Walgreens, together with teen community leaders, is committed to ending the epidemic through education and preventative measures. Let’s be part of the generation that ends this horrific epidemic of opioid addiction.

#ItEndsWithUs

Flashback – Naloxone: Seattle Police Officers Revive Drug Overdose Victim

Original Published on May 23, 2017

Police responded to a report of a man down in the 1500 block of 9th Avenue just before midnight and were quickly flagged down by a woman. The woman pointed officers to a man lying on the sidewalk, and said he had recently used heroin.

Officer Jared Levitt and Sergeant Dave Hockett saw the 40-year-old man was struggling to breathe and gave him a dose of nasal naloxone and began CPR a short time later.

SFD medics arrived and took over treatment of the man, who regained consciousness and was taken to Harborview Medical Center for treatment.

This incident marks the 16th time officers have used Naloxone since Seattle police began carrying it in mid-March. The case will become part of the ongoing study conducted by the University of Washington into SPD’s use of Naloxone for a possible department-wide deployment.

As a reminder, Washington law provides immunity from criminal drug possession charges for anyone seeking medical aid for themselves or someone else experiencing an overdose.

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