Kauaʻi Fentanyl Task Force

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In the United States, fentanyl became the leading cause of drug-involved overdose deaths among all ages around 2016.1 While methamphetamine continues to cause a majority of overdose deaths in Hawaiʻi, fentanyl abuse is on the rise. On Kauaʻi in September 2021, fentanyl overdoses quadrupled and five of those proved to be fatal. For a 12-month period ending September 2023, Center for Disease Control data showed that Kauaʻi averaged a fatal overdose every 21 days. This epidemic has no regard for sex, gender, age, ethnicity, or socioeconomic class. An unknown number of fatal and non-fatal overdoses occur without ever being reported. Overdoses that are reported may take as long as nine months for confirmation, making an accurate report on this epidemic a challenge.

Approximately 84% of overdoses in the United States involved illicitly manufactured fentanyl, with majority of decedents having a present bystander that did not provide an overdose response. About 41% of decedents had evidence of mental health conditions or treatment.2

Educating the public about the dangers of illicitly manufactured fentanyl, polysubstance use, harm reduction efforts, working with public safety to reduce the availability of illicit drugs, and emphasizing equitable access to evidence-based mental health and substance abuse treatment will save lives.

References

1. "Drug Overdose Death Rates.” National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 25 Sept. 2023, nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates. Accessed 23 April 2024.

2. "Drug Overdose Deaths Among Persons Aged 10-19 Years—United States, July 2019-December 2021." Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 Dec. 2022, https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7150a2.htm. Accessed 23 April 2024.

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About

In 2023, Rebecca Like, Kauaʻi Prosecutor, approached the Hawaiʻi Island Fentanyl Task Force (HIFTF) about providing training on how to launch a fentanyl-focused coalition. Subsequently, the HIFTF provided a two-day training for all counties, with the small group from Kauaʻi returning home and immediately bringing the Kauaʻi Fentanyl Task Force to life. The task force started as and remains a grassroots- and grasstops-led volunteer organization without about 20 partnering agencies and individuals.

Our Mission

Our mission is to reduce the demand and supply of illicit drugs in all age groups, especially fentanyl through education, prevention, treatment, harm reduction and recovery support activities, and to collaborate with faith-based organizations, law enforcement, first responders, the justice system, and other public and private agencies.

Our Vision

A community that is aware, informed, and empowered to prevent drug addiction, avoid dangerous substances, and respond with compassion to community members suffering from fentanyl's impacts.

 

 

Objective 1: Education and prevention through in-person/zoom trainings, school presentations, community fairs, and annual conferences. 

Objective 2: Education and prevention through the media (radio, news, tv, social media, and sign-waving). 

Objective 3: Education and prevention through an integrated and interactive website. 

Objective 4: Education and prevention through a walk-in service and/or hotline. 

Objective 5: Education to key policy decision makers (legislators, mayor’s office, etc.) 

 

Objective 1: Identify which populations are at the highest risk in order to tailor Narcan Training/Distribution and Fentanyl Test Strips Distribution. 

Objective 2: Educate legislators on making Narcan available in County and State facilities. 

Objective 3: Educate legislators on making Fentanyl Test Strips legal and available. 

Objective 4: Post-overdose outreach teams to engage people who have survived a non-fatal OD and link them to care. 

Objective 5: Engaging with the criminal justice system to develop drug assessment protocols for diversion and/or community re-entry. 

 

Objective 1: Track opioid-related fatal overdoses. 

Objective 2: Track non-fatal opioid overdoses. 

Objective 3: Track high utilizers of emergency room services due to overdose. 

Objective 4: Track opioid-related calls to the Hawaii Poison Hotline. 

Objective 5: Track EMS/Police patients treated with Narcan. 

Objective 6: Provide evaluation summaries to the Task Force on a quarterly and/or annual basis. 

 

Objective 1: Recruit and train existing healthcare providers to offer medication-assisted treatment (MAT) to their patients. 

Objective 2: Push on-island testing labs to implement rapid testing. 

Objective 3: Build for more treatment beds and detox facilities on island so that people can remain within their communities as they start to heal. 

Objective 4: Recruit more treatment professionals—CSACs, prescribers and therapists—to provide more services for those in need.

 

Objective 1: Collaborate with treatment providers, inter-faith groups, AA/NA groups, and club houses to ensure that recovery support are available on-island. 

Objective 2: Develop and disseminate educational materials to educate the public on how to receive recovery supports on-island and via the internet. 

Objective 3: Support the efforts of non-profit and/or grass-roots recovery groups who are seeking funding to help sustain operations. 

Objective 4: Support community and peer intervention models (i.e., peer specialists’ programs) that encourage survivors and/or parents of survivors to seek support through shared experiences and planned annual activities (i.e., sign-waving). 

 

Objective 1: Conduct a community needs assessment to determine what is being done to address the opioid crisis and what more can be done, identify gaps in services and barriers to care and develop an appropriate response.

Objective 2: Work with survivors and those with lived experience to educate the community about fentanyl.

Objective 3: Use community needs assessment to deliver informed advocacy to local, state, and federal elected officials to change existing laws that are barriers to prevention, treatment, and recovery and pass legislation that improve prevention, treatment and recovery.

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