Fresno County fentanyl use at epidemic levels. Why leaders want to educate parents, students

At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, Dr. Rais Vohra sees fentanyl use moving up the list of Fresno County’s greatest health risks.

“The greatest risk is no longer COVID. This is the new pandemic,” the county’s interim health officer said during a news conference Friday also attended by representatives from local and federal law enforcement agencies, the county’s department of behavioral health and its school system.

The news conference, called by District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp and streamed live on her office’s Facebook page, was a warning to the community about the dangers of the drug (which she said is affecting every neighborhood in Fresno County), but also a call to arms for the community.

“Education and awareness is the most important part of fighting this war,” Smittcamp said.

“We can not investigate our way out of this.”

There has been a significant rise in the number of fentanyl pills on the street in recent months. So much so that the Fresno Police Department put out a warning of its own earlier this month. The pills are made in China and imported in large quantities from Mexico by drug cartels, Smittcamp said.

Fresno police confiscated 60,000 pills during one recent bust.

On the streets, they are being sold at prices significantly lower than they were even two years ago. A $20 pill can now be bought for $5.

The effects of that access can be seen in the number of overdoses and deaths in the county.

The number of deaths associated with fentanyl overdose increased by 1,650% since 2018, according to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office. In 2018, there were two fentanyl overdose deaths. Last year, there were 35.

Through the end of May, that number is at 16 for 2021, with a dozen or more awaiting toxicology results, the sheriff’s department said.

As a result, all Fresno police officers now carry the overdose treatment drug Narcan in their vehicles and are trained to recognize the signs of an overdose. Area hospitals are also making the drug available to the community for families and people who may be at risk for overdose and people being brought into emergency rooms are screened for substance use and offered recovery resources, Vohra said.

“There are resources available,” he said.

Much of the news conference revolved around children, those in middle and high school, who can find it easy to comes across the drug using social media and cash apps.

“In the past year people had to seek it out,” Smittcamp said.

“Now, it’s easy. The ways they use technology to access these things, this, is a couple of clicks,” she said.

Parents and caregivers need to be proactive with their children, as drug abuse typically starts in adolescence with alcohol and marijuana and moves toward harder drugs, like meth, in adulthood, said said Dawan Utecht, director of Behavioral Health for Fresno County.

Pills like fentanyl can be harder to detect than alcohol of marijuana that have distinct smells. It is also particularly dangerous because of the addiction timeline and potential for overdoses resulting in death or long-term physical harm.

“It’s already happening,” Utecht said.

“In all of our neighborhoods. In all of our schools.”