Pierce County’s Opioid Task Force’s end is near. Is the local crisis over?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Pierce County’s Opioid Task Force is winding down after nearly a decade.
- The move comes as data shows that deaths, ER visits and more are declining.
- The health department says task force responsibilities will shift to existing programs.
Pierce County’s Opioid Task Force is coming to an end nearly a decade after it launched as a regional response to the opioid crisis.
The task force’s wind down, which started in June, comes amid substantial declines in opioid-related deaths, emergency department visits and other key categories tracking the local effects of the epidemic, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Now, efforts will shift to a “sustained behavioral health response housed in existing programs,” the health department said in a blog post on Wednesday.
“Our Public Health Clinic and Behavioral and Emotional Health program will build on OTF’s work as we continue to tackle opioid addiction and help people struggling with Opioid Use Disorder,” the post said.
Although moving to what the health department described as “a new phase,” the agency vowed to continue work assigned to the task force, including raising awareness and reducing the stigma around overdoses.
The task force began its work in 2018 as a partnership between the health department, Pierce County, the city of Tacoma and Elevate Health, focusing on prevention, education, access to treatment and shrinking the stigma of drug use.
The task force was also created to help make spending decisions regarding the Opioid Settlement Fund. The statewide pool stems from legal settlements paid by pharmaceutical and distribution companies in lawsuits brought against them by the Washington State Attorney General’s Office.
Pierce County is expected to receive roughly $55 million in funds between 2022 and 2034, The News Tribune previously reported. Dollars received thus far have been spent on workforce development, medical services, residential facilities and more, the health department said.
Public health data reviewed by The News Tribune shows that major indicators of the opioid crisis increased during the height of the pandemic and peaked in 2023, when opioid-related overdose deaths surpassed all other causes of accidental death in Pierce County. The yearly tallies of deaths, emergency room visits and emergency calls for opioid overdoses have declined in the past two years, despite occasional quarterly spikes, according to the health department-provided data from state and national sources.
But annual drug deaths remained far above levels from the pre-pandemic era. Opioid-related deaths in 2025 (300), which exceeded those from 2022 (259), were much higher than in 2019 (88), the data shows.
The health department highlighted that 63 drug-related deaths in the last quarter of 2025 were the lowest in Pierce County since the beginning of 2020. Emergency department visits related to synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, were down 43% since 2023, and first responders last year averaged 64 fewer calls per month for opioid overdoses, the health department said.
In announcing the task force’s wind down, health officials acknowledged there was still work to do, noting that the opioid crisis continues to disproportionately harm people experiencing homelessness, among other groups.
Pierce County Council Chair Jani Hitchen said the task force helped lay the groundwork for fighting the epidemic.
“Bringing relief to those struggling is our top priority, and we’ll build on the recent successes we’ve seen,” Hitchen, who’s also chair of the health department’s board and a task force sponsor, said in a statement. “Pierce County agencies will continue to partner to lead a unified, county-wide approach to tackling substance misuse.”
Under its strategic plan, the health department is seeking to cut the number of opioid overdoses by half between 2025 and 2029.
“The county has made strides in eliminating opioid overdoses and getting people the help they need,” Chantell Harmon Reed, the health department’s Director of Public Health, said in a statement. “We’re building on the amazing work of the Opioid Task Force. Opioid addiction awareness and care are part of our everyday work.”
