SAN FRANCISCO — Illegal use of fentanyl continues to be the principle purpose for unintended drug overdose deaths in San Francisco.
The San Francisco Public Nicely being Division launched overdose demise statistics for 2022 on Wednesday, noting a drop from 725 in 2020 to 620 closing 12 months.
2020 numbers hit a doc extreme in San Francisco, largely on account of COVID-19 pandemic and elevated availability of fentanyl on the streets.
London Mayor Breed talked about in a data launch, “Fentanyl continues to disrupt and destroy life in our metropolis. The number of overdoses is dropping, nevertheless there are nonetheless too many.” Whereas we keep devoted to discovering revolutionary choices to the opioid catastrophe, we’re moreover centered on accountability efforts with public safety companies to take care of remedy off the streets.”
Fentanyl stays a properly being downside not merely in San Francisco, nevertheless all through the nation.
Consistent with the Services for Sickness Administration Nationwide Center for Nicely being Statistics, there’ll doubtless be 107,622 drug overdose deaths within the USA in 2021, a nearly 15% improve from the estimated 93,655 in 2020.
Estimates for 2022 have not been launched, nevertheless nationwide traits current little sign of abating the catastrophe.
“Fentanyl has had a devastating affect on communities all through the nation, along with San Francisco,” talked about Dr. Grant Colfax, Director of Nicely being.
Since fentanyl first made its strategy into the house drug present in 2018, SFDPH has addressed this catastrophe from many angles.
Ultimate 12 months, Breed and SFDPH established the Overdose Prevention Firm and carried out an overdose prevention plan to coordinate efforts to reduce overdose deaths and mitigate the unfavorable outcomes of drug use on individuals and communities. .
In 2021, SFDPH and its neighborhood companions distributed over 33,000 kits of naloxone, an antidote for fentanyl and totally different opioid overdoses.
In 2022, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which works with SFDPH to distribute remedy, has distributed higher than 40,000 doses of naloxone alone and reported 5,127 recoveries.
Dr. Jeffrey Hom, who oversees the Overdose Prevention Firm, talked about: