Fentanyl Overdoses: ‘Most Serious’ Calamity Since AIDS, Says US Official
San Francisco’s District 6 Supervisor Reports Drug Overdose Deaths Twice as Deadly as COVID-19
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A San Francisco city official has described the city’s overdose deaths from fentanyl and other drugs as the most serious “calamity” since the AIDS crisis.
District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey stated at a town hall meeting that the city is experiencing a loss of life from drug overdoses that is twice as deadly as COVID-19. He said that San Francisco is going through its deadliest year of drug overdoses in history, which is driving street-level crime and retail theft.
San Francisco is among the US cities hardest hit by addiction and homelessness. Paul Humphrey, a deputy police chief in Louisville, Kentucky, echoed Dorsey’s concerns, calling fentanyl a “scary” crisis that has been ongoing for years. He said that the issue has been affecting Black and brown communities for years and called for action before reaching a crisis level.
Dorsey, who has publicly acknowledged his personal struggles with addiction, said that interventions in addiction can be lifesaving if done in a non-punitive way with access to medically-assisted treatment and health services. This week, the California Highway Patrol reportedly seized 9.2 pounds of fentanyl, enough to kill more than 2 million people.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 932,000 people have died from drug overdoses in the US since 1999. The US hit a record of nearly 110,000 drug overdose deaths last year amid a biting drug epidemic. Fentanyl is estimated to be 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine, and overdose deaths related to the synthetic opioid continue to rise, including a 56% increase from 2019 to 2020.
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