Free Webinar: Impact of Fentanyl in East County

Description

Fentanyl and other opioids have created a public health crisis in East San Diego County, but do you know the potential economic impact? $1.6 Billion a year! This is the impact of deaths alone. This is based on a study that examined the impact of the crisis on an area with the same population as East County. The study showed how losses cause significant damage to the regional economy, both directly from lost spending, wages, and productivity, and indirectly from lower employment and other trickle-down effects.
 
Beginning in the early 2000s the crisis began to see a decrease beginning in 2010 because of public awareness around the issue. We are now in a newer and much deadlier wave of the crisis This is a result of fentanyl, an extremely powerful and inexpensive synthetic opioid that has made its way into the illicit drug market. The impact has been felt strongly in San Diego County over the past 2 years with fentanyl overdose deaths doubling from 2019 to 2020 and 2021 figures show that trend continuing.
 
As with 2010 successes, public awareness is the key. The Institute for Public Strategies will be presenting a program on the impact of fentanyl in our county along with an outline of prevention strategies which include increasing awareness of the dangers of fentanyl, how to recognize an overdose event, and the importance of the drug Narcan in preventing overdose deaths.