(KRON) — The California National Guard made record-breaking seizures of over 62,000 pounds of fentanyl in the state in 2023, a 1,066% increase since the 5,300 pounds seized in 2021, the National Guard reports.
A lethal dose of fentanyl is 2 milligrams, says the Drug Enforcement Administration. With over 60,000 pounds of fentanyl, 2023’s drug seizure could have hypothetically killed the global population twice over.
The drug seizure is especially prevalent for San Francisco, as SF has not only recorded its highest number of overdoses in 2023, but fentanyl was the highest contributor to the city’s drug overdoses, recording over 600 overdoses in 2023 alone.
“Fentanyl is a poison, and it does not belong in our communities. California is cracking down – increasing seizures, expanding access to substance abuse treatment, and holding drug traffickers accountable to combat the immeasurable harm opioids have caused our communities,” Governor Gavin Newsom said Tuesday.
Since Governor Newsom took office in 2019, California has invested over $1 billion to crack down on opioid trafficking. Many of these recent efforts are part of Newsom’s “Master Plan For Tackling the Fentanyl and Opioid Crisis”.
Among the plan’s efforts, the state will be working with CalRx, an initiative aiming to make prescription drugs more affordable. CalRx and supporting partners will be given $30 million to aid in the distribution of naloxone, what the Center for Disease Control dubs a “lifesaver” tool for opioid overdoses against drugs like fentanyl.
In other efforts to prevent future drug overdoses, the Governor also announced recent legislation increasing penalties around trafficking the drug “xylazine,” otherwise known as “tranq”– an animal tranquilizer with no approved human use — that is increasingly being found in the illicit drug supply and has been linked to rising overdoses nationwide.
