A USC Annenberg analysis found that fentanyl-related deaths in Los Angeles County have been doubling on average for the last five years.
Dr. Brian Hurley: “Well, I should start by saying Los Angeles county is in the midst of an unprecedented overdose crisis.”
That’s Dr. Brian Hurley. He’s an addiction specialist and a director at the LA County Department of Public Health.
Dr. Brian Hurley: “Fentanyl is more toxic than other opioids. And by toxic, I don’t necessarily mean intrinsically poisonous. I just mean a little bit. Is the difference between being comfortably high and being dead.”
Fentanyl can be a hundred times stronger than morphine.
It is now increasingly being used to enhance the intensity of other recreational drugs, opening the dangers to a wider demographic.
Dr. Brian Hurley: “People have been using heroin in L.A. For a very long time...But what we have seen is fentanyl now in the opioid supply. So that includes heroin, that includes illicitly manufactured pills. But we’re also seeing fentanyl in methamphetamine. And cocaine and methamphetamine use are so much more common in L.A. Than in other parts of the country.”
This is one of the many reasons why public health officials in California have advocated for legislation, such as SB 57.
The bill would legalize sites for controlled drug consumption and increase access to the life saving overdose antidote -- Narcan.
After SB 57 was narrowly passed by the state assembly in August, governor Newsom vetoed the bill.
Ricky Bluthenthal, an associate dean from USC’s Keck School of Medicine, sees this as a result of leaving certain public health decisions in the hands of politicians.
Ricky Bluthenthal: “Implementing effective strategies that preserve the lives of people who use drugs in a non punitive way, are not politically popular in general and so on. And because unfortunately these decisions have to be made by politicians. They can be reticent to act, even in the face of health emergencies.”
And as fentanyl overdoses are not isolated to those touched by addiction, this emergency is reaching the most unexpected victims. Access to emergency services could mean life or death.
That’s how SDSU student Henri Stephen lost his friend Nick.
Henri Stephen: “He did fine in school. We got all of his work done. He never acted weird. He never did anything bad to anybody. Until finally one of our really, really good mutual friends sends me a message to let me know that she had been on a vacation. And he had taken a pill and he had just suddenly overdosed and died. "
Meanwhile, law makers will have to figure out how to overcome roadblocks to implement solutions.
Ricky Bluthenthal: “You just have to empower the public health authorities to act in the best interests of population health. But, you know, you you just sort of need to give them the permission to do it and and the legal standing to protect.”
With SB-57 held up, it has fallen on local authorities to take up the slack. But with many players at the table, arriving at an effective solution will take time.
For Annenberg Media, I’m Philip Salata.