On Jan. 27, Kitsap County officials provided an update about the opiate settlement funding plan, which revealed the county has about $6.5 million on hand to spend.

$778,578 in opioid settlement funding has been allocated over the last two years in Kitsap, per county officials, which funds data collection, education programs and naloxone.

Since 2018, Kitsap County has participated in a national opiate litigation against pharmaceutical supply chain participants for their misuse, abuse, and overprescription of opioids, per county documents.

“On April 6, 2022, the Board of County Commissioners entered into the One Washington Memorandum of Understanding Between Washington Municipalities agreeing to the allocation and use of settlement proceeds resulting from opioid litigation, and the county’s allocation amount agreed to in the MOU, 2.6294133668 percent, is the allocation amount Kitsap County receives after opting into the National Settlements,” documents state.

Kitsap County R.E.A.L. Teams (a community social services program) collected data on the number of requests for access to withdrawal management treatment countywide between February 2023 and December 2025, and received 318 requests from 230 individuals. “ We continue to hear that that is a need within our community,” Salish Behavioral Health director of operations and privacy compliance officer, Jolene Kron, said.

For the outcome of 318 requests for withdrawal management placements, 79%(251) found placement, and 21% (67) were not placed for a variety of reasons, including whether an individual changed their mind or if their medical needs exceeded the capacity of a given facility, Kron said.

“For those 251 placements facilitated, 75 (30% of total requests) were placed at BHA’s (behavioral health agencies), within the Salish region. 97% of those placements were at a BHA licensed to provide withdrawal management services, 3% were placed at a BHA licensed to provide crisis triage services. The remaining 176 placements outside of the Salish region were placed at BHAs licensed to provide medically necessary, appropriate services,” Kron wrote in an email.

For community response, in 2025, SBH provided 2,952 naloxone kits through the Naloxone Cabinet/Distribution Initiative countywide, with each kit containing two doses. In 2024, they distributed 1,734 kits and currently have 29 cabinets countywide as of Dec. 31, 2025, per SBH.

SBH identified priorities from a 2024 summit related to the outcomes outlined in the opiate settlement agreement. Salish focuses on harm reduction and naloxone programs and isn’t currently looking at safe-use sites, Kron said. One of the program’s goals is to provide education in the community around misuse of opioids, and supporting people who are in treatment and recovery. Kron said the program has a budget of approximately $6.5 million.

Kron said SBH administers the Criminal Justice Treatment Account program in Kitsap County, adding, “that covers individuals who have some sort of legal nexus and charges, and can be diverted either through drug court or other programs to provide support to those folks. So, historically, it paid for treatment and urinalysis for folks in drug court who may not have qualified for services. As part of our ongoing contract, we do a survey related to that program annually,” she said.

A 2026 CJTA survey identified several needs, including outpatient Substance Use Disorder treatment services: outpatient SUD treatment, SUD assessments (including those in jail), and residential SUD treatment. Treatment and recovery support includes: housing support services (rent and/or deposits), transportation and relapse prevention, Kron said.

County Commissioner Christine Rolfes (District 1) provided the following statement to Kitsap News Group:

“I’m most excited to see this funding used for an expansion and replacement of the existing Kitsap Recovery Center, which is housed in an old part of the county jail building in Port Orchard. It’s a one-time opportunity to make an investment that will improve accessibility to both treatment and ongoing support to people in our region for years to come. We can use the seed money from the settlements that have already been paid to the county for this purpose. We expect continued streams of settlement dollars over the coming 15 years that can be used to support existing efforts like student, parent, and provider substance use prevention education. What was different about this 2026 discussion was the focus on a meaningful investment and the use of the fund balance for that purpose. Last year, we authorized ongoing smaller expenses for prevention education and naloxone distribution (to save lives), and it appears that we can sustain those smaller investments in an ongoing manner.”

Salish is hoping to finalize recommendations in the first quarter of 2026, Kron said.