Fentanyl Town Hall Brings Community Together

By Doña Uhrig Sunday Signal Editor

The statistics are astounding, especially for Santa Clarita.

“Last month, in a 24-hour period, there were six overdoses and one fatality from fentanyl right here in Santa Clarita,” said Signal Publisher Richard Budman.

“Fentanyl has become a nationwide problem, but it has become especially prevalent here in Santa Clarita. City officials say there were at least 31 overdose deaths last year in Santa Clarita.”

The Signal hosted a Fentanyl Town Hall on Thursday, Jan. 12 at the Canyon Country Community Center. Its purpose was to bring the community together to learn about the local fentanyl crisis.

Joining The Signal were L.A. County 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger; City of Santa Clarita Mayor Jason Gibbs; LASD Captain Justin Diez; LASD Captain Brandon Dean, Narcotics Bureau; Hart District Superintendent Mike Kuhlman; Henry

Mayo Newhall Hospital Dr. Darrin Privett; Action Rehab Cary Quashan; L.A. County Deputy DA Jon Hatami; L.A. County Associate Medical Director of Prevention Substance Abuse and Prevention Control Dr. Siddarth Puri; Los Angeles County Department of Health, Medical Director for Santa Clarita, San Fernando and Antelope valleys Dr. Eric El-Tobgy; and LACOFD Assistant Chief Pat Sprengel.

One of the largest impact on the audience was listening to Olivia Flores, who shared how much she misses the hugs from her baby brother. He took just one ecstasy pill that was laced with fentanyl. That’s all it took for the 18-year-old to become another fentanyl statistic.

According to Narcotics Bureau Capt. Dean, as little as 0.02 milligrams of the opiate fentanyl is enough to make a fatal dose. That is about the size of a grain of salt.

Mayor Gibbs noted that 25% of all street drugs are laced with the opiate. It is estimated that fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.

Beyond hearing the panel members acknowledge the local fentanyl crisis, attendees learned how to recognize drug use and talk with family members about drugs. They also learned how local law enforcement and community hospitals are responding, and received insights as to tools that can help parents fight the crisis.

One of those tools included how to administer Naloxone, which is known by the brand name Narcan. Narcan, of which 150 doses were distributed at the event, is a nasal spray that can rapidly reduce an overdose if given properly and promptly.

Budman emphasized, “I want to make it clear that the distribution of the Narcan is not a get out of jail free card. This is a last resort effort to save lives. A last resort.

“Narcan is by no means an answer to the fentanyl crisis,” he continued. “It is NOT a preventative medicine, taking it in advance of consuming something laced with fentanyl will not work.”

However, administering it to someone suspected of taking a drug laced with fentanyl could save their life.

“We are distributing the Narcan to you as a tool; a tool that we hope you will never use. Just like the spare tire in your car, this tool will be there if you need to use it to save the lives of your kids or your neighbors’ kids in the event of an overdose emergency.”

A demonstration on how to properly administer Narcan was given by Dr. Puri.

“The risk is real,” said Supervisor Barger. She noted that she personally knows two people who have lost a child to fentanyl.

“This is not an overdose. … This is a poisoning death.”

There were many things learned at the town hall from all the panelists. Those included the following:

• Parents understand the importance of talking to our kids about drugs. But that timeline needs to be sped up. From a young age, we should lead our kids to be “hard-wired” against taking drugs from any source other than a doctor’s prescription or an over-thecounter medicine under parental supervision. Any drug distributed “on the street” can be laced with fentanyl. And it can kill you.

• If you think your kids won’t fall victim to fentanyl poisoning, remember the harsh reality that the vast majority