Robert Mittendorf
The Bellingham Herald (Bellingham, Wash.)
WHATCOM COUNTY, Wash. — Overdoses and deaths from the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl are continuing to decline from their peak locally in 2023, according to information from Whatcom County and statewide sources.
Data recently finalized by the Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office and shared with The Bellingham Herald showed that there were 62 drug overdose deaths last year in which fentanyl was a factor. That’s down from 78 such deaths in 2024 and 100 fentanyl deaths in 2023, according to the state Department of Health , marking about a 40% decline in two years.
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County Executive Saptal Sidhu told The Bellingham Herald that addressing the opioid crisis remains a priority for his administration and its partner agencies.
“As I stated in 2024, our local response alone is not sufficient to adequately address the crisis. We continue to need state and federal resources to address the socioeconomic drivers of addiction, to build and operate behavioral health facilities, and to stem the flow of narcotics into our county,” Sidhu said in an email.
In all, there were 96 total overdose deaths in Whatcom County in 2025, up from 95 in 2024. Of those, 62 deaths involved fentanyl use and 40 deaths were attributed to a mix of fentanyl and methamphetamine, the most common mixed-drug combination, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office. Overdose deaths are considered accidental poisonings, so alcohol deaths are included among total overdoses.
Public-health officials and others interviewed by The Bellingham Herald were reluctant to point to toward a single factor that’s pushing the decline in fentanyl overdoses. They were wary of calling it trend.
Instead, they cite a cooperative effort among agencies as diverse as health-care workers, police and firefighters, mental health and substance abuse professionals, judges and social service organizations.
Officials at the Whatcom County Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies have been confronting the fentanyl crisis like they were responding to a natural disaster since Sidhu issued an executive order in April 2024 . Bellingham Mayor Kim Lund took similar action amid public perceptions that drug use was rampant downtown.
Public health officials have distributed narcan to the public and taught CPR, stepped up drug treatment and diversion offerings and bolstered the Community Paramedic and Street Medicine programs. Lummi Nation , the Swinomish Tribe with its didgʷálič Wellness Center and other agencies are providing drug treatment. Local police are focusing on drug crime, and local social services agencies are using a housing first model to get addicts off the street.
Nearly 20,000 doses of narcan have been given away in the past 18 months and nearly 500 trainings were conducted through the county, health officials said.
Bellingham City Council member Dan Hammill , who chairs the council’s Public Health, Safety, Justice and Equity Committee , told The Bellingham Herald that “the combination of those elements are coming together” to help turn the tide.
“didgʷálič, that’s helpful for sure. They’ve been a game-changer. And the amount of people having Narcan has probably helped things,” Hammill said in a phone call. By the numbers
Figures for overdose deaths in Whatcom County are reported after toxicology and other tests are complete, a process that can take several months, which is why local overdose data for 2025 is just being released. Incomplete data from the state Department of Health lists 14 fatal opioid overdoses in Whatcom County for the first six months of 2026.
Other data from the first six months of this year is giving hope that even fewer people will die of opioid overdoses this year.
Emergency dispatchers in Whatcom County fielded 386 calls to 911 for suspected overdoses from January to June of this year, compared to 537 such calls from the same period in 2025. In the first period of 2023, when the fentanyl crisis was at its worst, there were 688 calls for overdoses.
Similar declines in overdoses and deaths are being seen across the state and nation. The opioid epidemic has killed nearly 1 million people across the U.S. since 1999, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
At the Recovery Cafe in downtown Bellingham , Amy Kenna and others who work at the street level with people who are fighting addiction are relieved that the daily carnage has eased. It took teamwork, she told The Herald in a phone call.
“(2023) was such a heartbreaker of a year. The sirens were going off downtown every hour, it seemed like. We know that a lot of things happened to turn the numbers around, but we’re happy to be a safe space where people can go,” Kenna said. “There’s more narcan being distributed, there’s more awareness, and we’re seeing a destigmatization of addiction. Many people know someone who’s affected.”
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