
(Daily360.com) 2,100 deaths occurred in Los Angeles county from fentanyl overdoses in the last decade ending in 2023. The new report shows the degree of the overdose crisis that is closely linked to the soaring homelessness in California. 75,000 homeless people live in LA county and most of them sleep on the streets.
The problem that has been ongoing for many years continues to get worse as there was a 15% increase in homeless deaths from 2022 to 2023 in the county. Fentanyl overdose fatalities, meanwhile, have increased more substantially from 30 in 2018 up to 633 in 2022. The new data also shows an overrepresentation of black people in homeless fentanyl overdoses. Black people make up 27% of that total despite only making up 9% of the total population in the county.
A homeless veteran named Ronald Hams described the destruction caused by fentanyl in the homeless community. He said he has personally saved the lives of dozens of people that were overdosing on fentanyl by administering Narcan. Narcan is a nasal spray that can help a person begin breathing after taking a high dose of opioids like fentanyl.
Many homeless people in the county know Hams very well and tell him that they only take drugs when he is around because he has a good track record of saving people. Despite the many lives he has saved, Hams said it is emotionally taxing. He said he goes back to his tent to cry whenever he saves somebody because he thinks about the possibilities and what would’ve happened if he wasn’t around.
Governor Gavin Newsome and other state lawmakers introduced a new bill that will increase penalties for fentanyl traffickers and dealers. This comes on the heels of a report that California has seized nearly two tons of fentanyl power since the beginning of the year. That is close to seven million pills, which illustrates the size of the ongoing crisis in the Golden State.
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