Orange County’s number of fentanyl-related deaths has increased 1,100 percent in 5 years, to the point where over 1,400 lives were lost in 2020, according to county officials.
“Orange County, like the rest of the nation, faces this crisis. No community, no city, no supervisorial district is unaffected,” Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley said at a March 3 public safety panel on the fentanyl crisis. “It seems like every single day we hear in the news about another fatality.”
Fentanyl—100 times more potent than morphine—has been ravaging communities in Orange County and across the country, many times killing people who are not aware they’re ingesting it. Just two milligrams can be a lethal dose, experts say.
The fentanyl epidemic has been on the rise since 2013 yet has become far worse during the pandemic.
In Orange County, fentanyl-related deaths increased 1,100 percent over five years, from 37 deaths in 2016 to 1,432 in 2020, according to Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes, one of the panel’s speakers. The number of deaths is expected to double again in 2021.
In California, over the same five-year period, fentanyl-related deaths have increased by 1,600 percent. Across the country, drug-related deaths exceeded 100,000 in a 12-month period for the first time in history between April 2020 and April 2021, and the biggest culprit was fentanyl, according to Barnes.
“To put that [national] number in perspective, a few years ago in 2018, and again in 2019 ... what we’re dealing with today, with our fentanyl crisis and the lives lost, if you could picture 10 Boeing 737s crashing each week consistently for a year. That is the equivalent of the lives lost during that period,” Barnes said.
Law enforcement is actively working against cartels who manufacture and traffic the drug through the southern border, up the Interstate 5 freeway to Orange County, and from the county to the rest of the country.
Given its intense potency, fentanyl is often mixed with drugs like heroin to achieve the same “high” per dollar of product, ultimately helping drug dealers maximize profit despite its extreme toxicity. The pure powder is also pushed together to make counterfeit pills that look identical to common prescription pills.
Barnes said the business of drug trade has been putting profits above the lives of people.
“Many people have asked me why cartels would sell a product that kills so many customers,” Barnes said. “[Cartels] have done the math and determined that creating new addicts is more important and those who lose their lives are just a loss leader in the business of ‘narconomics’ that exists.”
To deter fentanyl trafficking, one of the most important actions to take is to both secure the southern border and classify fentanyl as a Schedule 1 drug, which will increase consequences for trafficking, Barnes said.
“The lack of enforcement at our border is a gift to drug cartels, and they are taking full advantage of it,” he said.
One of fentanyl’s most addictive aspects is its withdrawal symptoms, consisting of muscle and bone pain, sleep problems, diarrhea, vomiting, severe cravings, and more.
“Just like heroin and morphine and other opiate drugs, fentanyl works by biting a part of the brain that actually controls pain and emotions, and so when you take fentanyl, the effects include extreme happiness, which is why people get hooked,” county Health Care Agency Director Clayton Chau said.
Fentanyl-laced drugs are often present in some form at parties, Chau said, with young adults not always knowing the signs of overdose, and they’re often afraid to call 911 due to fear of being arrested.
“They are afraid to call for help, and they don’t know what to do. Please call 911,” Chau said. “You cannot be worried about ‘Will I be arrested?’ That person’s life is most important at that point.”
When a defendant pleads guilty to a drug-related offense, the district attorney will seek to read the advisement in the courtroom, informing the defendant that if the illegal manufacturing and trafficking of any controlled substance result in any individual’s death due to ingesting or being exposed to the substance, then the defendant may be charged with murder, OC Deputy DA Mina Said said during the panel.
Advising defendants on the seriousness of drug crimes not only educates them but also serves as a piece of evidence in a situation where the person ends up on trial again for another drug-related crime that caused a victim’s death. The next time around, the DA’s Office would be able to show the court that the defendant was warned in the past.
Other district attorney’s offices have also been reading advisement in court for fentanyl-related crimes, whereas in Orange County, the advisement has been expanded to cover all controlled substances, not just fentanyl.
However, for the counties that do use the advisement, each judge has the authority to allow it to be read aloud or not for a certain case.
“The purpose of the advisement [is] to prevent unnecessary deaths, to save lives, to educate, but also to communicate that if the defendant continues to sell or distribute or manufacture drugs, and someone dies, then he may be held accountable for that death,” Said said.
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