Officials report that fentanyl fatalities in American areas, 115 miles to the north of the US-Mexico border, have increased by 800 percent in the period.
It’s a Real Pandemic
The fentanyl pandemic has reached new heights in Riverside County, which is sandwiched between Los Angeles and San Diego.
Temecula, a community of fewer than 115,000 people noted for its old-world city center and vineyards, is located here.
Nowadays, Riverside County Prosecutor Michael Hestrin says the region is confronting a threat unlike any other – fentanyl — that is pouring across the border.
According to Hestrin, the incidence of fentanyl-related fatalities has surged by more than 800% in the last five years.
Despite the fact that official data for 2021 is not yet available, the fentanyl body count is projected to surpass the previous year’s record-breaking number.
If current trends continue, 2021 will be the most deadly year on record for overdose deaths. Opioids are involved in over 85% of overdose deaths, and fentanyl, the highly potent synthetic opioid, is involved in more than 78% of deaths.
More recent data: https://t.co/wWKjEFQ8Fw pic.twitter.com/QO9DNRt1Vp
— Commissioner Ashwin Vasan, MD, PhD (@NYCHealthCommr) April 21, 2022
Residents are often unintentionally swallowing so much fentanyl, said to Hestrin, that they must be revived with numerous doses of the antidote Narcan.
Hestrin stated, in one recent example, that a woman who died from an overdose on fentanyl required 13 dosages of Narcan to bring her back to life.
Because of the high fentanyl fatality rate in the area, Hestrin decided to go after drug traffickers, prosecuting them with murder if their clients die as a result of taking fentanyl.
The tragedy of 14-year-old Alexander Hastings Neville, who died after swallowing a fentanyl-laced pill, made global news in Orange County, California, which borders Riverside County.
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) declared last week during a conference in Temecula that “we should take a war-like stance against those murdering Americans.”
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) proposed a similar scheme that would punish everyone involved in the fentanyl supply chain with homicide if an American died.
This is Terrifying
“A fingertip of fentanyl on your lips kills you, and giving it mouth-to-mouth kills the person who provides it to you,” Issa added.
California officials claim the state’s Democrat-controlled Senate and Governor Gavin Newsom (D) are disinterested in assisting localities, such as Riverside County, in their fight against fentanyl traffickers.
Although federal authorities have made progress in recent months.
An Ohio jury found William Husel, DO, not guilty in the murder of 14 patients who prosecutors claim were given excessive doses of fentanyl that hastened their deaths.
By @KristinaMFiore.#medtwitter #palliativecare https://t.co/0EdUgAIoHy
— MedPage Today (@medpagetoday) April 21, 2022
Jahvaris Lamoun Springfield, 31, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in February by federal authorities in San Diego for selling a lethal amount of fentanyl to U.S. Army veteran Brendan James Gallagher, who died as a consequence.
The sentence is the longest ever recorded by the United States Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of California for the offense of fentanyl distribution resulting in death.
Every year, over 100,000 Americans die as a result of opioid overdoses, including little dosages of fentanyl.
To put it another way, narcotics mostly coming across the border are causing the United States to lose a population the size of South Bend, Indiana, every year.
