While many areas of the country are seeing improvements, Spokane County’s drug overdose rates continue to worsen – at an alarming pace.

In 2024, the rate of fentanyl overdose emergency department visits rose 160% compared to 2023. Overdose deaths in Spokane County jumped from 233 in 2023 to 307 in 2024 – a 36% increase. Even more concerning, the fentanyl-related overdose death rate in Spokane County was 15 times higher in 2023 than in 2019.

At Maddie’s Place, we focus on a crisis within a crisis: the rising number of infants born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), a condition affecting babies exposed to legal or illegal substances in the womb. In 2023, the Washington state Legislature launched a two-year, $5.5 million pilot project centered on Maddie’s Place. That funding included a study by Washington State University Health Sciences, which examined infant and maternal outcomes. The final report, issued by the Washington state Health Care Authority, offered a sobering look at NAS rates: In 2022, Washington’s NAS rate was 180% of the national rate from 2021. In Spokane County, it was 340%.

Even more troubling? State agencies don’t have NAS data for 2023, 2024 or 2025. During COVID, we had near real-time data on hospitalizations in Spokane. But for NAS, we’re operating with a three-year lag.

It’s as if we’re flying the plane blind.

Maddie’s Place opened in late 2022. In 2024, we admitted 44 infants with NAS. In just the first four months of 2025, we’ve already admitted 27 babies – putting us on track for 80 to 90 admissions this year, nearly double last year’s total.

There are many possible reasons for this increase: greater community awareness of our services, improved coordination with hospitals and state agencies, and new clinical team members. But one possibility is simply that more NAS-affected babies are being born in Spokane – mirroring the rising adult overdose trends.

Why Spokane? I’m a lawyer by training, not a public health expert. But I noticed something in a Nov. 1, 2024, USA Today article: “Canadian Police Bust ‘Drug Super Lab,’ Seizing Record Amount of Fentanyl.”

Canadian officials described the facility as the “largest and most sophisticated fentanyl and methamphetamine drug super lab in the country.” The lab was run by a major Mexican cartel and located in Falkland, British Columbia – just five hours from Spokane.

While national focus often falls on the southern border, could a fentanyl pipeline be flowing from the north? Is it possible a Columbia River of fentanyl has been coming from British Columbia? Are there any other super labs in the hills within 300 miles of Spokane? Maddie’s Place’s two-year pilot program – and its related funding – ends in 60 days.

The Senate’s March 29 budget proposal included $200,000 for Maddie’s Place. The House budget included none. For five years, Sen. Marcus Riccelli has championed our work, giving us the chance to prove our case and our value. We know he is still advocating for us today.

Our hope is that the final state budget, set to be released April 27, will include $2.2 million in funding for Maddie’s Place.

To date, we’ve treated 130 infants and supported over 85 parents. Of those 85 moms and dads who stayed with their infants at Maddie’s Place, 95% remain in recovery, are still with their babies and are housed. Most of these parents were homeless when they arrived at our doors. It’s outcomes like these that have convinced Spokane County to invest nearly $2 million in funding to Maddie’s Place over the last two years. We’re hopeful the city of Spokane will follow the county’s example.

Without $2.2 million in state funding, Maddie’s Place will be at risk of closing. If we secure the funding, we will work tirelessly to take the next step: working with the state’s Department of Children, Youth and Families, Department of Health and its health authority to adopt a permanent funding model based on the Ohio model in 2026. In 2023, the Ohio Legislature directed its agencies to build a funding model for Brigid’s Path, a clinic that most closely resembles Maddie’s Place, in Dayton, Ohio. We believe Washington can – and should – do the same.

In a crisis filled with grim headlines, Maddie’s Place is a rare bright spot. We offer real hope, real recovery and real outcomes for some of the most vulnerable families in our region. We hope our leaders will ensure that light keeps shining.

Shaun Cross, of Spokane, is the president of Maddie’s Place, which offers medical care for substance-exposed infants with wraparound support for their caregivers.