Since August, Walla Walla has seen a dramatic rise in opioid overdoses amidst public concern. Carfentinal, a drug used to anesthetize large animals, and that is 100 times as potent as fentanyl, and BTMPS, an industrial chemical in some illicit fentanyl, are two possible reasons for these alarming numbers.
In a statement to The Wire, Cassidy Brewin from the Walla Walla County Department of Community Health stated that in the last 12 months, they have had an average of 11 cases of opioid overdoses presenting in the emergency department every month. She noted that October’s numbers are higher than usual, but still lower than September. Brewin emphasized that many overdoses go untreated in emergency care, meaning the actual number of cases may be underreported.
Everett Maroon, Executive Director of Blue Mountain Heart to Heart, is one of the primary voices raising concerns about recent trends.
“I talked to our partners and I crafted a statement. I know we are in an area that gets nervous about saying something that looks like we’re allowing drug use to happen, but the data are really clear: harm reduction helps save lives. In my opinion, it is the responsibility of the local government to help protect the lives of its residents,” Maroon said.
Blue Mountain Heart to Heart self-identifies as “a community-based organization whose mission is to promote public health with advocacy, education, harm reduction, clinical services and support for individuals across a spectrum of chronic conditions.”
The organization runs one of the few drug-checking programs in the rural U.S. and has found concerning results popping up since August. On Aug. 9, the organization found BTMPS in a sample given to their drug testing facility. Similar results began to appear for carfentanil as well, with the first finding on Aug. 27. Positive results for both substances continued to pop up after the initial samples were tested.
“We were starting to get concerned about disruptions somewhere in the supply chain that were driving increased variability of what was available in the underground drug market,” Maroon said.
He also pointed out the importance of sharing this information.
“As a non-government entity, I think if we’re going to have a drug testing program, if we see a particular danger, it is ethical of us to put out some sort of alert,” Maroon said.
Assistant Director of Security, Halley Munoz, shared in an Oct. 25 email that Whitman College works closely with Blue Mountain Heart to Heart and the Walla Walla Police Department. Munoz explained how important these partners are.
“Communication between these different groups and others is essential for the safety and security of the Whitman students, faculty, and staff,” Munoz said.
Aimee Milne, Assistant Vice President for Wellness, affirmed the importance of these community partnerships and added that the Walla Walla County Health Department helps keep Whitman College informed on county health trends.
Whitman College has seen a number of changes in recent years with regard to substance use, including new training for RAs to administer Narcan and a new student club, Whitman First Responders.
Narcan, or naloxone, is a medication that quickly reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.
Kenzie Bay ‘25, founder and president of Whitman First Responders, discussed the importance of Narcan for the club.
“Part of our training focuses on things like poisonings and overdoses and how to assess a situation like that; what the signs and symptoms look like. We also carry naloxone with us and do administration training on that,” Bay said.
Maroon has similarly emphasized how important Narcan is for the Walla Walla community. Blue Mountain Heart to Heart tracks its use and has seen major increases in 2024, and specifically in October. These preventative measures are important, especially in eastern Washington, where the life expectancy is 10 years less than in the western side of the state, according to Maroon.
These numbers cannot be specifically tied to any drugs at the moment. Although both carfentanil and BTMPS are showing up in Blue Mountain Heart to Heart testing, more observations will be needed to confirm that they are the reason for spikes in overdoses.
Although this is a national trend, Maroon felt that the concern was large enough here to alert the community. On their website, Blue Mountain Heart to Heart stated in an Oct. 9 alert that “we now have five observations of carfentanil in our region since late August. We had never observed it before August 27, 2024.”
Blue Mountain Heart to Heart advises the public “not [to] use drugs alone, whether you think you know the substance or not. Alternatively, please make a plan for friends to reach you and check on you. Our drug checking program has drop boxes at our locations in Kennewick, Walla Walla and Clarkston.”
For many students, including Bay, this information was new to them. She felt it was important to alert the campus to crises such as this going on in the Walla Walla community.
“I think our community is part of the greater Walla Walla community. They are certainly not separate things, so I think it’s something we should be aware of because it not only impacts the Walla Walla community but also, potentially, our community,” Bay said.
Community awareness is important for the college as part of a broader community, which, as Bay notes, is currently in crisis.
