Fentanyl, one of the worst drug crises in Los Angeles County.

Fentanyl, methamphetamine, xylocaine are the names of opioids that are well known to young people, and although many have tried them, not all of them live to tell their story because they have died or suffered permanent brain damage, for example, 24-year-olds … old Jesus Tapia Gomez.

“I would advise young people to be careful what they do, because many are not as lucky as me,” he says in a slow and sometimes unintelligible tone. “Thank God I was able to relieve myself [aliviar] And I’m still struggling.”

In March 2021, Jesus agreed to take a pill suggested by a friend. The pill contained fentanyl, he was hospitalized and spent a month and a half in a coma.

Jesus tells La Opinión that it was his own decision to take the pill. He never thought about the consequences.

“I got up from the hospital when I started to recognize the people around me,” he recalls. “At first I couldn’t walk and I had to be treated for three and a half months until I gained strength in my legs.”

Jesus left the hospital, but his friend did not. He’s already dead.

“He went to a party in Azusa City and got sick on the way home. When he got out highway on Lakewood Boulevard, he could no longer get to the hospital,” says Maria de la Luz Platero, Jesus’ political aunt.

“They took him in quickly… he was in a coma and the doctors wanted to turn him off, but his sister wouldn’t let it.”

“He was alive, he just couldn’t talk, and after we cheered him up and prayed so much for him, he came out of a coma. It was a miracle from God that he was saved.”

Jesus moved from Bellflower, California to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he lives with his aunt Blanca Tapia and continues his recovery. His parents, Jesús Tapia and Carla Gomez, died a few years ago.

talking about drugs

Maria de la Luz Platero was a member of the “UNITED for Healthy Communities, Talking Drug Crisis” public meeting hosted by Richard Saldivar, director of The Wall Las Memorias, at the Bell Gardens Civic Center.

“We are in a crisis due to a number of drugs that are affecting our community,” Zaldivar said. “Many of our youth are taking [bebidas alcohólicas]participation and drug use… And I’ll tell you, when a person is intoxicated, sometimes it’s hard to get along.”

In front of dozens of Hispanic parents, young students and municipal officials from South Gate, Bell Gardens, Bell and Huntington Park, the director of The Wall Las Memorias shared that he himself was recovering from alcoholism.

“I know what addiction is, and I am grateful to God that I have been sober for 34 years,” he said.

We are currently experiencing “the worst overdose epidemic in the history of the county,” according to Dr. Siddarth Puri, deputy medical director for prevention at the Los Angeles County Department of Health.

Health agency data shows that the total number of deaths from accidental fentanyl overdose in the county has been rising annually since routine testing began in May 2016.

Between 2016 and 2021, fentanyl overdose deaths in Los Angeles County increased by 1280%.

Fentanyl overdose deaths increased by 149% from 2019 to 2020: 462 in 2019; 1149 people in 2020 and then a 31% increase to 1504 people in 2021.

The Los Angeles County Department of Health clarifies in a November 2022 report that all drug overdose deaths are due to accidental drug overdose, excluding intentional overdoses such as suicide.

Opioids refer to accidental overdose deaths associated with all opioids, including fentanyl and heroin.

Between 2016 and 2021, 1,526 people died from methamphetamine overdoses; due to the use of opioids – 1719 people, and accidental deaths associated with the use of alcohol and drugs, including fentanyl, methamphetamine and opioids – 2741 people.

He indicated that of this total, at least 1,300 people died of fentanyl overdose in 2021 and affected people aged 17 to 65 from all communities of any ethnic race and all socioeconomic levels who also mixed fentanyl with the pill.

“Over the past four to five years, we have seen an almost 100 percent increase in fentanyl overdose cases in Los Angeles County, and we continue to see an increase in the amount of fentanyl in illicit drug shipments,” he said. public health expert.

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Source: Department of Public Health Report: Fentanyl Overdose in Los Angeles County.

What is fentanyl?

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines fentanyl as a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.

“This is a major contributor to fatal and non-fatal overdoses in the United States,” the CDC said in a statement.

There are two types of fentanyl: pharmaceutical fentanyl and illicit fentanyl. Both are considered synthetic opioids. Doctors prescribe fentanyl to relieve severe pain, especially after surgery and in advanced cancers.

However, the most recent cases of overdose involve illicitly manufactured fentanyl, which is sold in illicit drug markets due to its heroin-like effects.

On the black market, fentanyl pills are known as Apache, Dance Fever, Friend, Goodfellas, Jackpot, Murder 8, and Tango and Cash.

Fentanyl is often added to other drugs because of its extreme potency, making drugs cheaper, more powerful, addictive, and dangerous…and kills 150 people a day in the United States.