CALIFORNIA, USA — It is nearly impossible to escape reminders of today’s boiling opioid epidemic — the billboard advertising Narcan on your commute, a local news story of a teen’s accidental overdose, or the ever-growing public debate over how to address it best.
In just three years, between 2019 and 2021, California’s opioid-related deaths spiked 121%, according to the state’s health department. Most of these deaths were linked to fentanyl, an extremely potent synthetic opioid.
While pharmaceutical fentanyl has long been used to treat severe pain after surgery, cheaply manufactured illicit fentanyl has become a growing threat in large cities, rural communities, and suburban neighborhoods. Often the harm lies in counterfeit prescription pills and party drugs that, unbeknownst to the user, are laced with fentanyl. And drug trends are ever-changing. What in the 1990s was an epidemic driven largely by people abusing prescription opioids, today is one where fentanyl can be mixed with other substances like xylazine, commonly known as “tranq,” a powerful sedative approved for veterinary use.
Citing the rise in overdose deaths and feeling the pressure to act, lawmakers introduced about three dozen proposals this legislative session and held special hearings. They want to answer the question: How can California prevent more overdose deaths?
Two counties hard-hit by fentanyl deaths, especially among people younger than 25, have prosecuted harsher punishments of fentanyl dealers in an effort to combat overdose deaths.
The Placer County District Attorney’s Office has begun charging people associated with fentanyl overdoses with murder. In one case, the district attorney amended the complaint against a man accused of fentanyl dealing, adding a murder charge. In July, the man was convicted of second-degree murder, which the county says is the first conviction of its kind in the state.
It was no coincidence that Newsom chose San Diego as the site of his announcement of a “master plan” for addressing opiate addiction and dealing. The county and city of San Diego have made fentanyl a focus of their enforcement efforts.
People have died of overdoses in their fast food restaurants, in their juvenile detention halls, on their streets. City officials have variously referred to it as a “nightmare” an “epidemic,” and a “tidal wave.”
The city’s mayor, Todd Gloria, issued an executive order in November that mandates that the San Diego Police Department prioritize both enforcement of fentanyl dealing and booking those accused of fentanyl dealing into jail. The county Board of Supervisors unanimously approved $5 million over three years to hire public health workers that will watch fentanyl use trends and offer outreach services to people suffering from addiction.
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