In these pages we focus on results for King County, many of which have been prepared at the request of county agencies. For drug deaths, this is aided by data directly from the County Medical Examiner's Office. We look at results for all opiates, for heroin, and for prescription-type and other non-heroin opioids. In addition, we track crime lab cases for major drug types and for stimulants and hallucinogens often associated with the "party" scene.
King County obviously has the most drug users in the state for most if not all drugs. As the map below illustrates, however, because King County has the largest population, the rates of use of or deaths attributed to opiates are in the middle of Washington counties. Other counties have seen much larger increases in opiate deaths, but the number of deaths---218 at its peak in 2014, 210 in 2016---is largest in King County. Thus, we highlight results within the county.
Data sources: Center for Health Statistics, Washington State Department of Health (deaths), Washington State Office of Financial Management (population)
