More than 300 people died from opioid overdoses in Pierce County last year, yet the regional body that coordinated the local response to the crisis no longer exists.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department announced June 24 that it was winding down the Opioid Task Force, the volunteer-driven coalition that since 2018 brought together Pierce County, the City of Tacoma, the health department and the nonprofit Elevate Health to fight opioid addiction. The task force held its final committee meetings in June.
County officials say declining quarterly death counts justify the move. Addiction advocates who served on the task force say it eliminates the only space where providers across the region could coordinate care.
What the county says is working
The health department's announcement cited several improvements: 63 drug-related deaths in the fourth quarter of 2025, the lowest quarterly total since early 2020; a 43% drop in fentanyl-related emergency department visits since 2023; and about 64 fewer first-responder calls per month for opioid overdoses in 2025.
Pierce County Council Chair Jani Hitchen, who also chairs the Tacoma-Pierce County Board of Health and sponsored the task force, said in the June 24 announcement that the task force laid the groundwork for the county's opioid response and that agencies would continue a unified approach to tackling substance misuse.
The broader picture
Those quarterly gains sit inside a grimmer annual trend. Preliminary Washington State Department of Health data shows more than 300 opioid overdose deaths in Pierce County in 2025, roughly 7% higher than 2024 and more than triple the 88 deaths recorded in 2019, according to KNKX reporting. County health officials attributed the annual increase to a spike early in 2025 and said the quarterly count has continued to fall since.
The crisis continues to disproportionately harm people experiencing homelessness in Pierce County, according to the health department.
What advocates lost
Joe Contris, a behavioral health therapist who co-chaired the task force's treatment-access committee, described the final June meeting as bitter. He told KNKX that members were dismayed and disgusted by the decision.
"When you disband the opioid task force there's kind of this unwritten belief that it doesn't warrant special attention anymore," said Paul LaKosky, executive director of the Dave Purchase Project, which operates the Tacoma Needle Exchange. LaKosky served on the task force at its launch but later left.
Contris said the task force's real value was giving addiction service providers a regular space to meet, share strategies and troubleshoot barriers to treatment. That coordination hub is now gone.
Where the money goes
Over seven years, the task force received approximately $1.2 million from Pierce County and Tacoma combined. Tacoma stopped contributing in 2023. Margo Burnison, behavioral health manager for Pierce County Human Services, told KNKX the county decided to redirect those funds into direct addiction services, specifically the county's new Mobile Opioid Treatment Program. That program, approved by the Pierce County Council in September 2025, deploys up to two vans staffed with medical professionals and peer recovery specialists to rotate across county locations.
The task force also advised the county on spending roughly $55 million in opioid settlement funds Pierce County will receive between 2022 and 2034, according to The News Tribune. No replacement advisory body has been announced.
What happens next
The health department said its walk-in clinic will continue offering addiction services six days a week, and it is expanding its street medicine team. The department's strategic plan targets a 50% reduction in opioid overdoses countywide by 2029.
Some former task force members are exploring how to continue their work without county support, though no formal next step has been announced.
