Fentanyl is a highly potent synthetic opioid that is used in medical settings, but its illicitly manufactured version is sold on the streets and sometimes hidden in other drugs. One small dose can be fatal.
Congressman Salud Carbajal (D-CA) represents the 24th district that includes Santa Barbara County and portions of Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties. He said the increase in fentanyl-related overdose deaths in his district is shocking.
"It is no short of an epidemic and we need to get all hands on deck," he said.
In 2022 in Santa Barbara County there were 115 fentanyl-related overdose deaths. In Ventura County 181, and in San Luis Obispo County, the sheriff’s office said it was close to 70. These numbers have spiked in the last five years on the Central Coast, and the same is true around the country.
Carbajal recently joined with Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Representative Stephanie Bice (R-OK)] on legislation to declare fentanyl trafficking a national security threat. The goal is to open up additional resources to stop the drugs at the border.
"It directs the Pentagon to develop a fentanyl-specific counter-drug strategy in cooperation with neighboring countries like Mexico and Canada," Carbajal said.
The plan would include more shared military intelligence and better communication with border countries.
Called the Disrupt Fentanyl Trafficking Act 2023, the proposed legislation is in the early stages of review, so opposition to the bill is unknown, but Carbajal said, with bipartisan sponsors in both chambers, he’s confident it will move through the process.
Carbajal said his Central Coast constituents regularly ask him to do more to address the fentanyl crisis and he said this bill can do that.
"It’s important that, at all levels, especially the federal government, we do what we can to address this at its very core at the borders, as well as when it reaches our communities," Carbajal said.
