Orange County Records Spike in Fentanyl Deaths

Bags containing fentanyl are displayed as evidence during a news conference at the Surrey RCMP headquarters in Surrey, B.C., on Sept. 3, 2020. A search warrant executed at a residence yielded a seizure that included 3.1 kilograms of fentanyl, more than $100,000 in cash, and a drug brick press. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press

The number of fentanyl-related deaths has risen by more than 1,000 percent during the past five years in Orange County, Calif., according to the local sheriff’s department.

Data released by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) showed that 37 people were poisoned by the drug in 2016. There were 57 deaths in 2017, 134 deaths in 2018, and 165 deaths in 2019.