One death every ten hours.
This is the tragic record of the impact of accidental fentanyl deaths in San Francisco throughout the first quarter of this year, as the overdose crisis continues to wreak ever greater havoc on the West Coast of the United States.
In these first three months of 2023, the Californian city records 200 deaths from this circumstance.
This represents an increase of 41% compared to the same period in 2022, when there were 141 deaths, according to the report from the coroner's office.
For years there has been talk of finding a solution to this serious health problem. But it has been shown that, despite good will, things can always get worse.
Deaths due to the effect of the use of synthetic opioids continue to show frightening numbers. Nearly 80,000 in 2022 on a national scale, at least twice as many as traffic accidents.
In San Francisco, the most vulnerable to overdoses are the homeless living on the streets. Twice as many homeless people died for this house compared to the previous year.
Minorities are particularly vulnerable. A third of the victims are black people, despite the fact that they only represent 6% of the city's population.
Although the problem is national, San Francisco is a metropolis with a strong economy and, therefore, especially illustrative of the depth that this problem has reached.
"It's a shame that a wealthy city like San Francisco doesn't have a united response to combat overdose deaths," said Dr. Daniel Ciccarone of the University of California in The Guardian.
The increasingly punitive approach to consumers has only exacerbated the risks, he lamented.
“We are politically divided between those who have a lot of money and want the streets swept and those who bet on an approach based on health, science and compassion,” added Ciccarone.
The increase in the number of deaths began in December, but became more than apparent in January. In that month, 82 deaths were recorded. This caused the city to have the peak of deaths ever reached by this circumstance.
This point was reached after the municipal government closed a key care center where users could consume drugs under health care.
San Francisco is one of the most liberal cities in the United States. Last summer, however, voters forced the resignation of the attorney general at the polls. Mayor London Breed appointed Brook Jenkins, who opted for a law-and-order approach, which has led to increased arrests of dealers.
In December, Breed ordered the closure of that care center, in the Tenderloin neighborhood. Although the supervision of drug addicts was not official, they prevented a few deaths. Thanks to the drug Narcan, they reversed 330 opioid overdoses in eleven months.
