California sees record number of fentanyl-related deaths in 2017

A record number of Californians died in 2017 after overdosing on fentanyl, the opioid that is many times stronger than other prescription painkillers and heroin.

According to the California Department of Public Health, 746 people died from fentanyl overdoses last year. That is more than three times the 237 people who died from fentanyl overdoses in 2016, and nine times the 81 who died from overdosing on the drug in 2013.

It is the highest number of fentanyl-related deaths the state has seen since public health officials began tracking the numbers in 2008.

The spike in fentanyl deaths stands out because the number of deaths in California from opioid overdoses overall actually fell slightly, from 2,031 in 2016 to 1,882 in 2017. That is the lowest number of opioid overdose deaths the state has seen since 2011.

Fentanyl has long been used in legal drugs, such as prescription pain patches and epidurals. But in recent years, it has started showing up more frequently in much higher doses in the illegal drug trade, particularly in the Northeast United States, in the form of fentanyl-laced

heroin, Xanax, cocaine and methamphetamine.

Users often do not know how much fentanyl is mixed in with the other drugs, making it much easier to accidentally overdose.

“This is a signal fentanyl as an illicit opioid has really arrived in California,” said Phillip Coffin, director of substance use research at the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

In California, the number of overall opioid deaths held steady despite the dramatic jump in fentanyl deaths in part because most heroin sold in the state is black tar heroin, whereas heroin on the East Coast tends to be white powder. It is easier to mix fentanyl, a white powder, with white powder heroin.

In the Bay Area, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties saw the highest numbers of fentanyl deaths. San Francisco and Contra Costa counties each reported 26 deaths, and Santa Clara reported 24, according to state data.

In San Francisco, about a fifth of the opioid overdose deaths — 22 out of 105 — were attributed to fentanyl in 2016, the last year for which data are available. The number of fentanyl deaths doubled from 11 in 2015 to 22 in 2016.