Background: Overdose & Fentanyl in San Francisco

California has one of the lowest rates of overdose deaths in the nation, with the number of opioid-related overdose deaths hovering around 2,000 over the last few years. However, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) reports 234 fentanyl-related deaths in 2016 and 373 in 2017, marking a 59% increase over a one year period. While California is not experiencing the dramatic increases in overdose deaths compared with the Eastern part of the U.S., harm reduction programs and public health departments in various parts of the state continue to be proactive in addressing overdose risk by implementing evidence-based interventions like naloxone distribution and access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT).

San Francisco experiences approximately 100 opioid-related deaths per year (see Table 1). San Francisco has been experiencing an influx of IMF products into the drug supply since early 2015. While the presence of IMF in the San Francisco drug supply remains limited and inconsistent (as opposed to other regions of the country) we experienced a doubling of overdose deaths related to fentanyl in a one-year period; 22 deaths in 2016 compared with 11 deaths in 2015.

Table 1: Opioid Overdose Deaths, San Francisco CA 2016 (N=104)

Data provided by OCME to SFDPH’s Substance Use Research Unit (SURU) and analyzed by Chris Rowe and Dr. Phillip Coffin