Young adults at highest risk of dying from fentanyl overdose. What is SJ County doing?
People in their 20s and early 30s are dying of fentanyl overdoses at higher rates than any other age group in San Joaquin County, data shows.
For every 100,000 people between 20 and 34, around 71 died of an overdose in 2022, according to the latest data from California’s department of public health.
That’s roughly 26 more deaths per 100,000 people than in those over 50, the data shows. And it's higher than the county's overall homicide rate, which was 60 per 100,000 residents in 2022, according to the state's Department of Justice.
“We are really seeing an increase in overdoses among young people,” Rachel Zerbo, an educator with the county’s public health department, said Tuesday.
A new anti-fentanyl campaign aims to change that.
This month, posts will appear across social media warning young people, and the public at large, that numerous street drugs could contain undetectable deadly doses of fentanyl, according to Zerbo.
The wave of fentanyl deaths in San Joaquin County and across the U.S. is just the latest face of an opioid surge that has killed at increasing rates for decades, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.
As far back as the 1990s, overdoses on liberally-prescribed opioids like Oxycontin drove death rates up, the data shows. Heroin contributed significantly starting around 2010.
But fentanyl and other “synthetic opioids” skyrocketed the death rate starting around 2016, the data shows.
“What has happened is that fentanyl is being included into ... illicit pills,” Zerbo said. “This is reaching a wider audience than prescription pills could reach.”
Fentanyl is powerful: 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, the CDC says. In its legal form, it’s usually used to treat pain in patients with advanced stages of cancer.
Street drug manufacturers often include fentanyl in cocaine, pills, heroin and other substances to more effectively hook buyers. It's impossible to know how much fentanyl might be there. And it's so powerful, the tiniest bit too much will kill, public health officials warn.
That's what makes it so dangerous to youth, Zerbo said.
“Young people are more likely to experiment,” she said. "It’s really the hallmark of youth, which in this age of fentanyl, is so much riskier than it was in the past.”
In addition to online posts, this month’s campaign includes more traditional advertising including billboards, convenience store ads and bus stop ads, according to Zerbo.
But “first and foremost in our mind is young people,” she said.
“Social media is going to have the most impact. That's where most of our advertising is going to be.”
Record reporter Aaron Leathley covers government accountability. She can be reached at aleathley@recordnet.com or on Twitter @LeathleyAaron. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: What is San Joaquin County doing to prevent fentanyl overdose, death?
