San Francisco is poised to surpass a record-breaking year for overdose deaths.
There were 563 overdose fatalities in the Golden City between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31, according to a recent report from the San Francisco chief medical examiner. This puts the city on track to hit 845 overdose fatalities in 2023, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, far surpassing the record 725 in 2020.
"There's so much fentanyl that it's contaminated other drugs sold on the street like meth and crack cocaine. It's in everything," Tom Wolf, a former drug user and current recovery advocate, told Fox News. He said the surge in overdoses is because the amount of fentanyl on the streets has increased threefold compared to 2020.
"I see suffering and despair on many blocks," Wolf added. There are "literally thousands of people in tents or on the street" who "are almost all using meth and fentanyl."
In 2017, meanwhile, just 36 of the 222 overdose deaths involved fentanyl, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
"It’s crazy, so sad out here, it’s like a zombie apocalypse," Georgia Taylor, a 32-year-old fentanyl user, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "I’ve been clean before, and I so, so want to get clean again before I overdose and die. But it’s so hard."
"You can find 100 people out here who have 100 different reasons for using, and we all have to be ready to quit before it will work," said Taylor, who began using the synthetic opioid after losing her kids to child protective services.
"Fentanyl changed the game and has turned all public health approaches on its head," Wolf said. It is "going to require the city to start making hard choices of what to do, which includes more enforcement, intervention and mandated treatment for those breaking the law to support their addiction."
"Enforcement must now be part of the solution in order to save lives," he added.
Neither Mayor London Breed's office nor the San Francisco Department of Public Health immediately responded to a request for comment.
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