Travis County, home to Austin, the Texas state capital, is on track to record twice as many fentanyl deaths in 2022 than it did all of last year, Judge Andy Brown said Monday.
Fentanyl was detected in nearly two-thirds of all overdose deaths last year, compared to only 38% last year.
“Overdose deaths are a public crisis and together we can do something about it,” Brown said at a news conference. “Fentanyl does not discriminate. It can and is impacting all of us.”
Fentanyl, an opioid up to 50 times more potent than heroin, has fueled the latest phase of the opioid epidemic across the country. It was responsible for 71,238 of the record 107,000 fatal drug overdoses in the United States last year, according to the CDC.
A reporter shows an example of how much fentanyl can be deadly after a press conference on deaths from fentanyl exposure.
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
Brown is pushing for Travis County to provide more narcan, a powerful drug that can reverse opioid overdoses.
FENTANYL DRIVES RISE IN US OVERDOSE DEATHS AFTER NATIONAL OPIOID EPIDEMIC
Fentanyl test strips, which can allow people to test their drugs to make sure they don’t cut themselves on the deadly opioid, are currently illegal under Texas state law.
He’s also asking the state legislature to legalize fentanyl test strips, which people can use to make sure drugs aren’t washed out with the deadly opioid, but are currently criminalized in Texas.
Fentanyl test strips are considered drug paraphernalia in Texas and many other states.
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Fentanyl comes in pill, powder, and liquid forms, making it relatively easy for drug traffickers to smuggle across the border and across the country.
Since Texas Governor Greg Abbott launched Operation Lone Star last year, more than 352 million lethal doses of fentanyl have been seized at the border.
According to a report from the Drug Enforcement Agency, the vast majority of fentanyl and the chemicals used to make it originate from China. It is smuggled into the country via the US-Mexico border, which under Biden’s watch has consistently broken records for illegal crossings.
