SAN FRANCISCO — The number of drug overdose deaths in San Francisco plummeted in 2024 after the coronavirus pandemic triggered a devastating public health emergency, according to preliminary data compiled by city health officials.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner recorded 586 deaths in San Francisco in the first 11 months of 2024. This represents a nearly 23% decrease in deaths compared to the first 11 months of 2023, or 174 fewer deaths. A total of 810 people died from drugs. Overdoses in 2023 are the highest on record for the city.
The development reflects national and state-wide data showing a downward trend in overdose deaths. Fatal overdoses decreased by 14.3% across California when comparing the 12 months ending in July 2023 to the 12 months ending in July 2024, according to preliminary data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During this period, fatal overdoses decreased by 16.9% nationally. , according to CDC figures.
Los Angeles County health officials have not yet released fatal overdose numbers for 2024. But the latest data also shows progress: The number of drug overdose and poisoning deaths will plateau in 2022-2023 after years of historic increases, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Administration. good health. There were 3,092 overdose deaths recorded in the county in 2023, a slight decrease from 3,220 deaths the previous year.
San Francisco public health experts say the decline in deadly drug use in the city is due to naloxone, commonly sold under the brand name Narcan, which can quickly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, and prescription drugs. It blames the widespread availability of the drugs buprenorphine and methadone. Long-term treatment of opioid addiction.
“We are cautiously optimistic that our public health interventions are beginning to pay off in terms of saving lives,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
Last year, methadone prescriptions issued by the health department increased by more than 30%, and buprenorphine prescriptions increased by nearly 50%, Colfax said. The department recently partnered with the Night Navigator Team, which provides treatment after dark, including a telemedicine program that quickly connects opioid abusers with health care providers who can prescribe medication. The department has recorded more than 2,300 calls since the program began in March.
San Francisco has added about 400 residential treatment beds to its existing 2,200 sites in recent years and tripled the number of street care workers in the past two years, according to the Department of Public Health and Mayor London Breed’s office.
Dr. Christopher Colwell, director of emergency medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, said there has been a notable increase in the number of people admitted for treatment in the past year.
“After watching friends and colleagues die, I think many patients have realized more than I have ever seen in the past year how dangerous opioid use disorder is,” Colwell said. he said. “We’re seeing a lot more willingness to at least have that discussion and consider it than there was just a few years ago.”
Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University who studies addiction, said the 2024 numbers are a “huge problem.”
“It’s also for the lives saved, but also for all the frontline workers, all the harm reduction workers, all the treatment professionals, and all the police who have despaired that this situation will never get better. It’s also for public morale,” Humphries said. “This is a big boost.”
San Francisco, like many urban areas, saw an uptick in fatal overdoses early in the coronavirus pandemic as government shutdowns made it more difficult to directly address the introduction of fentanyl into the street drug scene. A sharp increase was recorded. For example, in 2018, when fentanyl first hit the streets, there were 259 fatal overdoses in San Francisco, and 441 deaths in 2019. A year later, the number of overdose deaths has soared to more than 720 as communities effectively shut down and fight the coronavirus even more difficult as cities effectively shut down to slow the spread of COVID-19. did.
Humphries said the subsidence of the pandemic has also made it easier to address some of the social factors underlying addiction.
“Everything about coronavirus was terrible from a drug perspective. There were other reasons for people to use drugs: sadness, loneliness, bereavement, loneliness,” Humphreys said. “All the structures that help people recover and maintain recovery have collapsed: jobs, responsibilities, daily routines, social obligations.”
Breed lost re-election in November to Daniel Lurie, a nonprofit executive and successor to Levi Strauss, an outcome widely attributed to voter dissatisfaction with homelessness and street drugs. . Still, Breed said the recent decline in overdose deaths is due to an administration that has taken a “tougher stance” on illegal drug use, arresting dealers and requiring treatment for some users. He said it was proof of the decision.
Last March, for example, she sponsored a successful ballot measure that would require drug testing and treatment for county welfare recipients suspected of illegal drug use.
Colwell said last year’s numbers are a positive sign, but opioid use remains a serious problem. He emphasized the importance of adding treatment options such as buprenorphine and methadone, which are more effective in the long term than overdose reversal drugs. He said he appreciates the city’s commitment to investing in treatment beds and housing, but “not a day goes by that I don’t feel like we need more.”
He and other experts said it’s important that the city and Lurie continue to invest in solutions, even as San Francisco faces an $876 million budget shortfall. . Lurie declared a fentanyl emergency when he took office on January 8 and promised to “get tough” against drug dealers.
“We know what works, and we need to continue to do this,” Colwell said.
Source link
