SPOKANE, Wash. – A local mother, Kitara Johnson, is rallying the Spokane community to combat the growing number of fentanyl-related deaths following the loss of her son, Gabriel Johnson, to a fentanyl overdose in March. This initiative is called Gabriel’s Challenge.
Johnson held a meeting at City Hall where city leaders and educators gathered to learn about helping loved ones battling addiction. This was the second in a series of meetings organized by Johnson to educate the community about the risks fentanyl poses.
Tuesday night’s meeting focused on Ricky’s Law, which Johnson hopes will save lives. “So this is going to bring some hope to a lot of families because this is so new with the law that a lot of us don’t know how to do that and to be empowered as a family and a community to respond,” Johnson said.
Washington State Representative Lauren Davis presented the law and its limitations. Ricky’s Law, enacted in 2018, allows designated crisis responders to involuntarily commit patients struggling with substance abuse disorders to a 120-hour hold. Prior to this, Washington’s Involuntary Treatment Act, passed in 1973, did not account for those with substance abuse addictions.
Davis shared her personal connection to the law. In 2012, she became the caregiver for her friend Ricky, who was gravely ill with untreated substance use disorders. A psychiatrist told Ricky, then 25, “You’re going to die of this disease… if we were in another state, I would commit you involuntarily for addiction treatment but my hands are tied in Washington,” Davis recounted.
This experience propelled Davis and Ricky to advocate for changes to the Involuntary Treatment Act. “We took that giant 200-page statute and basically inserted the words ‘and substances disorder’ over and over again throughout the statute,” Davis said.
Both Davis and Johnson feel Ricky’s Law is an underutilized resource in Washington that could help save lives. However, Spokane faces challenges with delayed response times from designated crisis responders, as Frontier Behavioral Health is the only organization in Spokane County offering such response teams.
Johnson emphasized the importance of educating the community on resources like Ricky’s Law. “Although the tragedy brought us here together, it doesn’t have to be our story. Spokane can tell a different story,” she stated.
The next meeting for Gabriel’s Challenge will be held next Tuesday at City Hall at 5:30 p.m. Johnson invites anyone in the community to learn more about her son’s story and join the fight against opioid and fentanyl abuse.
