YAKIMA — Congressman Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., said he wanted to learn more about fentanyl and its impact in Central Washington after a conversation with a constituent. 

“There’s an individual in my district, actually from Yakima, who called my office with a very compelling story about his family. He had two sons that, within a short amount of time, passed away because of fentanyl overdoses,” Newhouse said. “He came to the realization that something needs to be done.” 

That conversation led Newhouse to submit legislation to address the sale of fentanyl to individuals, he said. 

“We’ve done that – it's working its way through the system, but the more we looked into that, the more we realized this is a very complex issue. A lot of moving parts here, a lot of things that need to be addressed, some at the federal level, of course, many at the state and local level,” he said. 

That led to the formation of a task force to investigate the impact of fentanyl in the Fourth District. The task force issued its report earlier this month. 

Newhouse said the task force appears to be the only one its kind started by a member of Congress. 

Fentanyl’s impact 

Grant County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Kyle Foreman provided information on the local impact of fentanyl in the county with the assistance of the Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team, often referred to as INET.  

“Illegally manufactured fentanyl is the primary drug of abuse for those struggling with opioid addiction,” Foreman said. 

The task force found plenty of evidence of fentanyl’s impact in Central Washington. The Northwest High Intensity Drug Traffic Areas task force seized about 215,500 fentanyl pills in Central Washington in 2019. By 2022 that had risen to 1.53 million.  

Fentanyl seizures in the region increased by 395% from 2019 to 2022, according to the report.  

National-local parallel 

“Between 2020 and 2021 the number of drug arrests made by the (Drug Enforcement Administration) increased by 36%, and in 2021, for the first time, the number of arrests made by the DEA for fentanyl exceeded the number of arrests for heroin,” according to the report.  

Drug overdoses killed more than 110,000 Americans in 2023, with about 3,500 of them in Washington. Of the 3,500, 93 were in Yakima County, 46 in Benton County, 40 in Grant County, 27 in Franklin County and 22 in Okanogan County, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. 

Newhouse said the numbers show the Fourth District has the same kind of problem as the rest of the country. 

“I can’t tell you that it’s worse in Central Washington than other places, but I know it’s as serious as other places. It’s as serious in some of our communities,” he said. 

Foreman said fentanyl can affect people who don’t take it. 

“As is the case with many illegal drugs, there is a connection to other crimes such as theft and burglary, so users can sell the stolen property to support their habit, and a connection between drug use (and) abuse and child abuse, sex crimes and violent crimes,” he said. 

China connection 

“Illicit fentanyl is manufactured by Mexican drug cartels utilizing precursor chemicals provided by Chinese labs,” Foreman said. “The fentanyl is then either pressed into pills or combined with additives that make chalky fentanyl-laced powder. The pills (or) powder form are smuggled into the U.S. where they are distributed by domestic drug traffickers.” 

Newhouse said he knew China was involved in the fentanyl trade, but the extent of that involvement surprised him.  

“China (is) a subject that has gotten a lot of interest here in Washington D.C. I sit on the select (House) committee on the (Chinese Communist Party) and we’re looking at threats that China poses to the United States – which there’s a long list of those, but one of them is this drug issue,” Newhouse said. “This was the thing that shocked me. I think it’s something like 97% of the fentanyl precursors come from China.”  

Eyeing solutions 

The task force made a lot of recommendations, some for the federal government, others for implementation at the state level. Others for implementation by local communities.  

Newhouse said the goal of the recommendations is to give people a place to start. 

“Certainly, there’s going to be some funding required for many parts of this. But I think the most important thing the task force looked at was, what are some of things that we can do, what are some parts of the solution that we can address? And if there are things that communities think are important and would work for them, then we can work on making that a reality.” 

The report recommends Congress work to interdict the precursor chemicals coming from China. It further states that the U.S. should find ways to hold China and Chinese businesses and citizens accountable for their involvement in the trade of fentanyl precursors. It also recommends enhancing interdiction efforts at both the northern and southern borders of the U.S.  More resources should be available for law enforcement, tribal as well as federal, state and local. 

The Washington Legislature should be encouraged to set up a mechanism to coordinate data and enforcement, along with clarifying the roles of various law enforcement agencies, according to the task force’s report. 

Both the state and federal governments are encouraged to increase capacity for treatment, and funds allocated for treatment are used for treatment. State officials should review state law to ensure people can be treated, especially people suffering from mental illness and substance abuse disorders.  

State and local officials should work to disseminate information on the dangers of fentanyl, including accidental exposure. State and local officials also should work to improve data collection, increase opportunities for treatment and raise the penalties for people dealing drugs, the report said.  

To read the full report, visit https://bit.ly/NOFENTANYL.  

    Fentanyl seizures in North Central Washington have increased dramatically since 2019.
  

    Fentanyl seizures escalated dramatically in North Central Washington over a five-year period.
  

    U.S. Representative Dan Newhouse, pictured, convened a task force to help find possible solutions to increase in fentanyl use in Central Washington.
  

    Areas of Grant County are among those with a high incidence of fentanyl seizures.