TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Travis County commissioners are set to declare a public health crisis in response to a growing number of drug overdoses and drug overdose deaths that have been reported in Central Texas parallel to a national trend.
The declaration will not only aim to educate people on the dangers of illicit drug use — specifically fentanyl — and the resources available in Travis County, but it will also shuffle county money to prevention efforts, naloxone availability and funding for service providers’ staff.
It comes on the heels of the Travis County Medical Examiner’s 2021 report.
That report showed for the first time in a decade drug overdoses were the leading cause of accidental death in Travis County. Fentanyl was found in more than a third of those cases, a dramatic increase year-over-year.
“One death from this is too much, but this is extraordinary and something that we need to take more seriously at every level of government,” Travis County Judge Andy Brown told KXAN after the report was published.
Tuesday, commissioners will vote to do the following:
- Declare a public health crisis
- Raise awareness of the risk of overdose deaths, the dangers of fentanyl and resources available in Travis County already
- Move $350,000 to overdose prevention efforts: $150,000 for naloxone and overdose prevention kits and $200,000 for service providers’ staff to provide harm reduction services
- Look into additional methods of disposing hazardous material
- Analyzing current county best practices when it comes to mental health, behavioral health and substance use treatment
“As overdose deaths continue to surge, we need to meet this crisis by putting resources into communities most at risk. That’s exactly what this declaration does,” said Paulette Soltani, director of organizing at Texas Harm Reduction Alliance.
The declaration proposal was brought forward by Judge Brown and Commissioner Margaret Gómez. The agenda item was stalled last week so Travis County leaders could have further discussion with resource groups about what would be most useful to them.
Credit: Source link
