Santa Clara County announces plan to drive down fatal fentanyl overdoses
A redirection of prosecutor resources and an information campaign were announced in the wake of a teen being charged with murder for 12-year-old girl's drug death in San Jose.
SAN JOSE — Following a rare murder charge for a 16-year-old boy accused of selling a fentanyl-laced pill blamed for the overdose death of a 12-year-old girl, Santa Clara County officials are planning to boost public information about tainted pills and refocus law-enforcement resources toward cartels and large-scale dealers behind the steady supply of illegal fentanyl in the South Bay.
At a Wednesday news conference, Supervisor Cindy Chavez said she is sponsoring a referral to the Board of Supervisors that would create a working group of drug treatment and education specialists, and people who have been affected by fentanyl addiction, to advise county agencies in their efforts to drive down a rising trend of fatal overdoses in the county.
According to county figures cited by Chavez and District Attorney Jeff Rosen, fentanyl overdose deaths have risen in the county over the last several years, with 11 cases in 2018, 27 in 2019, 88 in 2020 and 106 last year.
Chavez said her envisioned working group will be paired with a social-media campaign aimed at increasing public awareness that street-bought pills and painkillers — including those pressed with “M-30” markings — could be cut with fentanyl, a highly addictive opioid that the CDC states can be up to 100 times stronger than morphine.
“When that happens, people have no idea what they’re getting from dealers or on the streets,” Chavez said. “We need to take swift action before it becomes an even bigger crisis.”
That idea was illustrated in signboards behind Chavez emblazoned with the message: “Don’t be faked out. EXPECT FENTANYL.”
“We’re seeing far too many cases in high school and middle school, including this 12-year-old girl,” she added.
The supervisor was referring to a murder charge announced Tuesday against a 16-year-old boy, who is being prosecuted in juvenile court, based on the premise that the boy knew about the potential lethality of the pill he sold to a 12-year-old San Jose girl in November 2020.
Part of how prosecutors have argued that the boy knew the risk he was pushing is by citing that his phone had screenshots of public-service literature about fentanyl dangers, which on the surface is the same kind of literature Chavez wants to amplify.
Rosen said his office is disbanding its “traditional narcotics unit” and reviving it as one focused on targeting drug cartels and “major dealers, organized syndicates, fentanyl sales and other major crimes.”
“The traditional way of handling illegal drugs has for too long been ineffective, costly and has had a destructive and disproportionate effect on communities of color,” Rosen said.
It is not clear, at least publicly, whether the 16-year-old boy that Rosen’s office charged with murder is connected to any of the kinds of organized rings and cartels that Rosen referenced in his remarks Wednesday. Information about the case is not publicly accessible owing to its administration in juvenile court.
Rosen said the revamped unit will be headed by prosecutor Edward Liang.
“If we can save one life then it will all be worth it,” Liang said.
Check back later for updates to this story.