SCC's fatal drug overdoses reach record high in 2022

Across the US, drug overdose deaths are ratcheting up by 7%/year on average. And the story's more grim if you zoom in on Santa Clara County. Despite Susan Ellenberg's never-ending press conference schedule, the programs are failing: An all-time high of 373 overdose fatalities occurred last year, which includes a recent doubling (167) of opioid-specific deaths. The SF Standard surveys the latest research—and who's disproportionately impacted—here.

Despite the apparent progress in battling teen OD fatalities, Santa Clara County overdose deaths overall continue to rise, with a record 373 recorded last year. Those overdoses included fatalities from non-opiate substances like alcohol and cocaine.

Fatal opioid overdoses—which count deaths from drugs like fentanyl, codeine, morphine and hydrocodone—in Santa Clara County more than doubled between 2019 and 2022, when accidental opioid-related fatalities reached a high of 167....

The overwhelming majority of fatal overdoses occurred among adults over 30 years old last year. Young people between 15 and 25 years accounted for 30—or 8%—of Santa Clara’s 373 overdose deaths last year.

Asian people comprise Santa Clara’s largest racial group, representing 39% of the population. But their share of fatal overdoses was significantly smaller, sitting at just 7.5% in 2022.

Other demographic groups, by comparison, represented a disproportionately high share of overdose deaths last year: Black Santa Clara residents, for example, comprised roughly 9% of all overdose deaths, despite accounting for just 2.4% of the county’s population in 2021, according to the latest Census Bureau estimates.

This article originally appeared in the San Francisco Standard. Read the whole thing here.

Read more on the need for bolstered addiction support services here.

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