San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria signed an executive order Nov. 29 to increase public awareness of the dangers of fentanyl and to strengthen law enforcement’s ability to prevent the sale and use of the drug in the city.
According to officials, deaths from accidental fentanyl overdoses—a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine—have increased 10-fold in the last five years.
Previously, the San Diego Board of Supervisors declared fentanyl overdoses a public health crisis in June. Of over 800 such deaths in the county in 2021 nearly half—or 42 percent—occurred in the City of San Diego alone.
“The proliferation of fentanyl in our communities—and the accompanying death and destruction it’s causing in our communities—demands swift action from all levels of government,” Gloria said in a press release.
Included in the executive order are mentions of mental health and economic stress from the COVID-19 pandemic which has possibly pushed increased substance abuse.
Fentanyl can be mixed with other substances to increase potency and in many cases, a person is unaware they are ingesting a lethal dose of fentanyl. Such “accidental overdoses” was the leading cause of death in the city in 2021, according to the city.
The executive order will push to educate the public on accidental overdoses, the risks of using fentanyl, and the life-saving ability of naloxone—an antidote to opioid drug overdoses—through community outreach programs, using the city’s estimated $30 million in recent opioid settlement funding, over the next eight years. Money from the opioid settlement between state and local legislations against the country’s three largest pharmaceutical distributors is being used as relief funds for states.
The order also requires the San Diego Police Department to prioritize tracking down, arresting, and prosecuting those that supply fentanyl to vulnerable populations in the county—including the homeless, which according to recent county data, saw 113 deaths from fentanyl in 2021, compared to two deaths the year prior.
“Far too many people in our community, from all walks of life, have felt the devastating effects of fentanyl,” Police Chief David Nisleit said in the press release. “We must take an aggressive approach to this epidemic.”
San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan said he welcomed the mayor’s executive order in hopes it would “give law enforcement and prosecutors the tools to investigate and prosecute illegal drug dealers poisoning our community with fentanyl-laced pills and powders.”
“Combatting the fentanyl crisis in our region which is harming and killing our family members, children and neighbors is a top priority for my office,” Stephan said.
