SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) — A brand new lethal drug known as carfentanil is in Santa Clara County, medical specialists say.
It is a artificial opioid like fentanyl, however a lot stronger.
On Wednesday, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Michelle Jordan introduced that the county’s first overdose loss of life on account of carfentanil was reported final week.
“Carfentanil is 100 occasions stronger than fentanyl,” Dr. Jordan stated.
MORE: What’s SF’s technique after 400+ fentanyl overdoses in 2024? Many are asking for a drastic strategy
Nationwide Fentanyl Consciousness Day highlights the hazards of the drug inflicting a disaster in San Francisco and killing hundreds throughout the nation.
Final week, a 39-year-old man was discovered useless with M30 drugs, counterfeit drugs made to appear to be prescription oxycodone.
“What I am actually anxious about — and the rationale I need individuals to be made conscious of this — is as a result of a few of the drugs which might be offered off the road could possibly be probably laced with carfentanil,” Dr. Jordan stated.
Jordan stated this latest loss of life means the drug is on the market, and faux drugs look actual.
In relation to therapy, Cheryl Ho, the county’s Behavioral Well being Medical Director for substance use, stated there’s been loads of concentrate on the therapy of opioid use dysfunction.
“We wish to be there, present providers, let you recognize what’s provided,” Ho stated. “You already know, you do not have to be excellent or gotten someplace to get assist. You could be simply wherever in your journey, and there may be some form of assist accessible. And so I feel actually we have been working onerous these previous years to actually orient our providers extra in direction of assembly individuals the place they’re at.”
A Santa Rosa father who misplaced his son to an unintended fentanyl overdose is making it his “purpose” to warn others concerning the risks of the drug.
The county’s Opioid Overdose Prevention Undertaking gives free naloxone – the overdose-reversing drug – by mail to anybody 18 or older.
Dr. Jordan stated her workplace will sound the alarm on any medicine they see in the neighborhood.
“So this stack are all of the postmortem toxicology stories of drug-related fatalities,” she stated, pointing to a big stack of papers on all of the overdose deaths she’s dealt with since 2019. “What does that say to me? It says to me that there are loads of people which might be dying from drug overdoses, however most significantly, there are loads of households which might be impacted by the drug disaster.”
Carfentanil has already been reported on the East Coast and Midwest.
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