Synthetic opioid overdose deaths significantly increased in last three years
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office shared its latest data on overdose deaths in the county which showed a notable increase over a three year period and a substantial increase in fentanyl overdose deaths.
In 2022, a total of 168 overdose deaths occurred with 115 of them related to fentanyl. In comparison, 2021 saw a total of 133 overdose deaths with 78 of those related to fentanyl. In 2020, 113 overdose deaths were reported with 37 of them related to fentanyl.
Despite the existence of Narcan, a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, the total number of fentanyl deaths increased as did the share of overdose deaths directly tied to fentanyl in Santa Barbara County over the last three years.
In Santa Barbara County, the Sheriff's Office and Project Opioid, a coalition of community leaders, are supporting the distribution of Narcan pictured below.
Sheriff Bill Brown explained, “Narcan is a harmless, yet miraculous drug that reverses the often lethal effects of an opioid overdose. Simply put, it’s easy to use and it saves lives. Making more Narcan available to community members will help us lower the unacceptably high rate of overdose deaths we are seeing in our community and across the nation.”
Beginning this week, Santa Barbara County Sheriffs at their headquarters in Santa Barbara and at their Carpinteria and Santa Maria substations are hosting a free Narcan Distribution Program through the Department of Health Care Services.
Locations for the substations are below:
- Sheriff’s Headquarters (4434 Calle Real, Santa Barbara),
- Carpinteria (5775 Carpinteria Avenue, Carpinteria)
- Santa Maria (812 W. Foster Road, Santa Maria)
Members of the public can come to the lobby of any of these stations during business hours, receive information about a short instructional video, and critically, receive Narcan.
The program is free to the public and requires no personal information to participate.
Project Opioid also has Narcan distribution programs through the Pacific Pride Foundation, the Santa Barbara Opioid Safety Coalition, UC Santa Barbara's Student Health Services Alcohol and Drug Program, and Fentanyl is Forever SB.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid approved by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration for use as a pain reliever, or analgesic, as well as an anesthetic.
Fentanyl is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin as an analgesic according to the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
