Fentanyl deaths in L.A. County soared 1,280% between 2016 and 2021 trends now
A new report by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has laid bare the bleak state of the fentanyl crisis, with the number of fatal overdoses recorded sky-rocketing by 1,280% in just five years.
Los Angeles officials briefed the public Tuesday about the new numbers, which have soared 13-fold from 109 deaths linked to fentanyl in 2016, to 1,504 in 2021.
Juli Shamash, a Los Angeles mother and advocate, who lost her 19-year-old son Tyler to a fentanyl overdose in 2018, told the crowd that the drug 'is killing everyone and anyone.'
'To the parents out there that think, 'not my child,' think again.
'This is killing straight-A students, tracks stars. All races. All religions. All socioeconomic groups,' she warned.
Juli Hamash and her husband Charles, who lost their 19-year-old son Tyler to a fentanyl overdose in 2018. The family have since become activists for increased drug education and overdose prevention measures
Los Angeles County is confronting the shocking revelation that fentanyl linked deaths have increased 13-fold in just five years as the synthetic opioid has taken over the street drug trade
Progressive LA District Attorney George Gascón says the city needs to take a careful look at the things it has done in the past that clearly have not worked in confronting the danger brought on by the raging drug problem
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid many times more powerful than heroin is often mixed with cocaine and other stimulants and consumed unknowingly by recreational drug users.
As the number of US deaths related to overdoses linked to synthetic opioids climbed to 70,000 last year, public health officials continue to sound the alarm over the extremely potent nature of fentanyl.
Dr. Gary Tsai, the direct of the Substance Abuse Prevention and Control division at the LA County Department of Public Health, told the Los Angeles Times that the numbers suggest 'a lot of people are dying before they have a chance to make it to the emergency room.'
'We're talking a matter of minutes where someone
