Fentanyl, a dangerously potent synthetic opioid, has surpassed methamphetamine for the first time to become the most common drug in fatal overdoses in Los Angeles County, authorities said.
The powerful drug accounted for 59% of all alcohol and drug overdose deaths and 92% of all opioid overdose deaths last year, according to a report from the L.A. County Department of Public Health.
“Eight to nine people per day in Los Angeles County are overdosing fatally,” said Dr. Gary Tsai, director of the department’s Bureau of Substance Abuse Prevention and Control.
A record 3,220 people died of drug overdoses in Los Angeles County in 2022. That’s a nearly 7% increase from 2021, when 3,010 people died of drug overdoses in the county, authorities said.
The report relied on data derived from medical examiner and toxicology reports. If a drug was listed as one of the causes of death, it was classified in the report as a contributor to an accidental overdose. Suicides were excluded.
A dangerous combination
Experts say fentanyl is increasingly found mixed in other drugs, including methamphetamine, in what has been called the “fourth wave” of the opioid crisis by researchers.
“The key differentiator between substance use now and substance use 10 years ago is fentanyl, because fentanyl is something where — whether you’ve used for a long time or whether this is the first time you’re touching a substance — it can immediately be life threatening,” said Tsai, who treats people with addictions and has seen the devastating effects of both drugs first hand.
Authors of the report note the data did not allow them to determine whether people who died of overdoses involving fentanyl took the drug on purpose in combination with another drug or if they took it…
Read the full article here
