(intriguing music) - I am Paris Jackson in the Crosscut KCTS 9 Newsroom.
The worsening drug addiction crisis in Seattle is a microcosm of the shared difficulty facing the region, state, and nation.
The complexities of substance use treatment are far and wide with mountains of challenges.
In the Seattle area, drug treatment options cross a wide spectrum from harm reduction work to lengthy residential inpatient treatment centers.
The core of substance use disorder treatment falls into three categories: medication-assisted treatment, outpatient treatment, and inpatient treatment.
Concerning those challenges, inpatient treatment suffers due to budget cuts and other factors.
Since the 1990s, King County has lost at least half of its residential treatment beds, leaving about 260 remaining today.
In 2022, about 1,000 people in King County died of drug or alcohol overdose according to King County Public Health Department data.
Of those deaths, nearly 700 were attributed to Fentanyl.
I'm Paris Jackson.
Find nonprofit Northwest news every day on crosscut.com.