On April 15, Renton approved a funding of $472,000 to be received from Janssen, a pharmaceutical company, to provide the city with accessible medicine that rapidly reverses opioid overdoses. Renton, among many other cities, joined this nationwide settlement from Janssen in which the company paid $26 billion to thousands of cities and countries.
These distributions hope to fight the aftermath of addiction directly. Renton City Council is currently teaming up with the community to find the best distribution method. Renton hopes to hear input from members of the school district and other providers about how these funds should be distributed throughout the community.
The City of Renton also addresses that these funds will directly center on funding education and the prevention of future drug addiction, treatment opportunities for those with current addictions, and overall harm reduction.
This is huge news for cities such as our own that are currently seeing drug addiction and overdoses skyrocketing. King County alone had over 1,000 fentanyl overdoses in 2023 and that number is only continuing to increase. Communities all over the nation, Renton included, are fighting the backlash of addiction and many community members are thankful to see that action is taking place.
Alongside the sum from Janssen, a recent clinic named Ideal Option opened in Renton for community members who are battling drug addiction. The new clinic’s hope is to fight addiction to fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, and polysubstance while also providing lab-based tests on patients in order to quickly combat their addiction. The treatment center is open Monday-Thursday from 7:30 AM- 6 PM located at 500 SW 7th St. This center is officially up and running as of March 2024. The new facility allows for a maximum of 75 patients to be seen a day and provides accessible help for those seeking support and medical assistance to people looking for recovery. The actions that King County has been taking in order to fight the drug addiction epidemic are showing huge progress and newfound hope and security for city members.
