The number of fatal drug overdoses recorded in Marin last year was the same as 2022, according to new data released by county health officials.
The county had 61 fatal overdoses in both years, according to the data, which are based on completed coroner investigations. The county also had 463 nonfatal overdoses last year, officials reported.
Fatal overdoses peaked at 65 cases in 2021, county health officials reported.
On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that fatal drug overdoses across the country decreased for the first time in five years, according to preliminary data. Cases fell by an estimated 3% last year compared to 2022. More than 107,500 people died from overdoses in the United States last year, the CDC estimated.
California had a 4% increase in fatal overdoses from 2022 to 2023, according to the CDC.
Marin County had a rise in fatal overdoses caused by a mix of fentanyl and methamphetamine. Such cases increased from 44% in 2022 to 63% last year, the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services reported. Out of last year’s 32 fatal fentanyl overdoses, 20 also involved methamphetamine.
“One trend I’m concerned about right now, in terms of mortality, is fentanyl being added to the local methamphetamine supply,” said Dr. Matthew Willis, the county’s public health officer. “Because it means fentanyl is reaching a new group of people who use drugs.”
Last year, fentanyl was involved in approximately six out of 10 fatal overdoses in Marin County, said Haylea Hannah, a county analyst. She said that proportion hasn’t changed since 2022.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin, according to the CDC. Fentanyl that’s trafficked into the United States mainly comes from China and Mexico, the Drug Enforcement Administration stated.
The drug has been known to be mixed with narcotics such as methamphetamine and cocaine.
“Meth is dangerous on its own, and fentanyl compounds the risk of death,” Willis said.
Hannah believes that methamphetamine users affected by fentanyl are a mix of those who were accidentally exposed to fentanyl and those who sought it.
“What we heard from some of our focus groups is that fentanyl can be cheap and if someone already has an opioid use disorder they might be seeking a cheap opioid,” she said. “We also heard some instances where people were only intending to use methamphetamine but fentanyl seems to be mixed up with their methamphetamine.”
OD Free Marin, a group that works to educate the public about overdose prevention, has the goal this year of a 10% drop in fatal drug overdoses in Marin County. It also wants a 10% increase in residents enrolled in medical treatment for opioid addictions.
The group is working with “community resiliency teams” to provide educational materials on fentanyl as well as on test strips that detect fentanyl and the Narcan naloxone medication that’s used to treat fentanyl overdoses, said Anita Renzetti, the organization’s senior program coordinator.
She added the organization is responding to changing patterns in drug overdoses by focusing more on addressing gaps in treatment for stimulant use disorder. OD Free Marin distributed 7,988 Narcan kits through vending machines over the past three years, according to a recent presentation by the organization.
The coalition also is working with the Marin County Office of Education to increase substance use awareness and prevention in schools, Renzetti said.
The issue cannot be solved by any one approach, Willis said.
“We can’t arrest our way out of this crisis,” he said. “Neither can we get enough Narcan out there to prevent every death. We have to work multiple angles, upstream or downstream at once.”
