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During a fentanyl forum that Orange County Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley hosted, attendees heard stories of overdoses with drastically different endings depending on whether or not families had access to overdose-reversing drugs.
In addition to sharing information on the county’s new educational campaign, “Fentanyl is Forever,” attendees heard from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, a registered nurse (RN) and the chief of Orange County’s Mental Health and Recovery Services during the Opioid Crisis Town Hall at Capistrano Union High School on Dec. 14.
“Today, we’re going to take a critical step to protect our communities, especially our kids from the devastating grip of fentanyl, and the county has embarked on a campaign, Fentanyl is Forever,” Foley said. “Fentanyl, for those of you who might not know it, is one of the most dangerous drugs on the illegal drug market, with the equivalent of two grains of salt enough to kill.”
Foley said that anyone buying drugs illegally faces a high risk of unknowingly receiving fentanyl.
“You’ll hear this from our health care agency, as well as our law enforcement partners here today, fentanyl is in every drug that’s out on the market that’s not prescribed by your doctor or from a pharmacy,” Foley said.
Fentanyl deaths, Foley added, “continue to outpace other causes of death amongst our Orange County youth, with so many families in our community with stories.”
“These are stories that we hear in the community, and these are not bad kids,” Foley said. “These are not drug addict kids. These are oftentimes kids that try drugs one time, and one time is too many.”
Dr. Veronica Kelley, Orange County Chief of Mental Health and Recovery Services, spoke to the crisis from the perspective of a clinician and mother of a daughter in recovery.
Kelley shared with attendees of the forum that she was able to save her daughter during an overdose, because she had Narcan, an overdose-reversing drug, in the household.
However, the process to get naloxone was difficult.
“My kid was in treatment, and she was on medicated assisted treatment, which meant she was on some medication that would help reduce the cravings to use,” Kelley said. “Because she was on that medication, I went to my local CVS in Huntington Beach, and I said I want Narcan, because I knew that this was something that if she overdosed … because she was a person who used substances and if she relapsed, I didn’t want her to die.”
“I had a lot of trouble at the time getting from CVS Narcan,” Kelley continued. “It was a very stigmatized medication.”
Once she was able to get the medication, she taught all of her family members how to administer it, in case her daughter began to overdose.
The critical time to use the medication came at 2 in the morning when her daughter came home from treatment, eyes glazed over.
“As I laid her down in bed, her breathing changed,” Kelley said. “Something was wrong, and so I knew she was probably overdosing.”
She called for her younger daughter to bring her the Narcan, and Kelley administered it. Because she had Narcan on hand, her daughter survived the overdose, was treated in the hospital and is now in recovery.
During the forum, attendees watched a short documentary, Dead on Arrival, which shared many similar stories of overdoses. However, in the absence of naloxone, children and young adults in the film did not survive the overdose.
Kelley explained during the event that deaths due to fentanyl have increased across the state from 2018 to 2022, from 786 to more than 6,000.
“Fentanyl is an opioid, so it’s a pain medication,” Kelley said. “It is a pain medication that’s prescribed, and it’s prescribed in different formats. Including a patch. That’s not what we’re talking about here.”
“We’re talking about illicit or illegal fentanyl,” Kelley continued. “Remember that fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine, and it’s 50 times more potent than heroin.”
In October, the Orange County Health Care Agency launched its Fentanyl is Forever campaign, which seeks to spread information on the fatal effects of the drug.
Orange County saw 750 deaths attributed to opioids in 2021 and 637 deaths attributed to the substance in 2022, according to the California Comprehensive Death File.
As a part of the campaign, the health care agency has hosted forums to spread awareness to residents and students across the county.
“We are proud to lead initiatives that prioritize community well-being,” Kelley said in an email.
“By bringing together community members, collaborative partners, and stakeholders from various agencies, we create a unified front against the dangers of fentanyl,” Kelley continued. “These panel discussions not only inform but empower our community to collectively combat this issue, emphasizing the advantages found in collaboration and shared commitment to health and recovery.”
Orange County is using its opioid abatement funds, received through lawsuit settlements, to create the Fentanyl is Forever campaign, to get naloxone out into the community and to train residents on how to use overdose-reversing drugs.
During the event, attendees learned how to administer naloxone from Edward Darvin, a registered nurse specializing in mental health and recovery services, and they had the opportunity to take naloxone home with them.
“Our specialized town halls on fentanyl serve as crucial platforms for education, fostering dialogue, and distributing life-saving resources like naloxone,” Kelley said.
Sgt. Brian Gunsolley of OCSD shared that the department is working to get ahead of the problem through the Prevention Unit. He also carries Narcan with him both on and off duty.
It’s important for parents to have regular talks with their kids about the dangers of drug use, Gunsolley noted.
“This is something that sometimes we kind of just forget to do, but it’s an important talk, because we live in a society with addictive substances, and it’s not going away anytime soon,” Gunsolley said.
“If you suspect your child is using any drugs or experimenting with drugs … get naloxone,” Gunsolley continued. “Put that in your house, just in case. You just don’t know if the drug that they’re experimenting with might have fentanyl.”
For more information on the Fentanyl is Forever campaign or to find resources, visit fentanylisforeveroc.org.
