Pierce County’s only facility offering medically supervised drug detox will double the number of days clients facing opioid use disorder can spend in its care, an effort to improve outcomes and combat the unique challenges of treating fentanyl withdrawals.
For decades clients have spent up to five days in detox, said Margo Burnison, Director of Behavioral for Pierce County Human Services. A standard that often provided sufficient time to remove alcohol and most drugs from the system. Yet fentanyl – an opioid 50 times stronger than heroin known for its intense withdrawals – has proved to be an outlier.
“Part of our approach was realizing and understanding that things have changed over the 30 past years,” Burnison said. “Some of the standards we still operate off of don’t really apply.”…