COVID wiped out the annual community celebration of homeless lives lost for two straight years. Wednesday marked its return and a packed Vets Hall illustrated the number of others affected by those losses — 137 people who had been unhoused at some point in 2022, 91 of whom lost their lives while deemed officially homeless.
opioid crisis
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: Numbers in Benchlands overdose story don’t line up
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here. To the editor: Monday’s reporting links a September spike in overdoses to the clearing of the Benchlands homeless campground in downtown Santa Cruz. But the Benchlands was not cleared out in September. Workers began clearing the first of […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
As Benchlands broke up, overdoses spiked: How much does displacement create dangerous isolation?
As the national fentanyl crisis continues to reverberate in Santa Cruz County at record rates, killing 42 people in 2021 and 39 officially so far in 2022, another record was set in September: 82 overdoses, spread out more around the county than usual. Public health officials noted the correlation and Lookout sought opinion from others about how the sweeping of a homeless encampment like the Benchlands in a county that lacks adequate addiction and mental health services can lead to “poor outcomes.”
Posted inCoast Life
With fentanyl ODs still surging, fear of increased drug use among Latino youth has county leaders concerned
A survey conducted among high school youth in Watsonville earlier this year suggests that a growing number of kids are experimenting with substances beyond alcohol and marijuana on a regular basis. Leaders hope a Spanish-language town hall Monday night will help illuminate the problem more broadly — and affirm to parents the danger fentanyl presents. The number of deaths the synthetic opioid has caused in Santa Cruz County in 2022 will set a new high, Lookout has learned.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
‘Imminent’ need for Narcan on campus: School safety leader says fentanyl threat is real, preparation is key
The death of a 15-year-old girl on campus at Hollywood’s Bernstein High School several weeks ago, and the prevalence of rainbow-colored versions of the drug that look like popular candies, provide the latest evidence that the fentanyl epidemic remains too close for comfort when it comes to families, children and schools. This is why Santa Cruz County safety officer Jennifer Buesing is calling on school districts to take the need for on-campus Narcan deadly seriously.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
The ‘wounded healer’ who is helping Santa Cruz County through a time of mental health crisis
Xaloc Cabanes has survived a lot — and applied it, heading Santa Cruz County’s mental health advisory board. His “lived experience” leads the way as society deals with numerous challenges, old and new.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
San Francisco D.A. revokes plea deals, toughens policies on fentanyl cases
Interim San Francisco D.A. withdraws plea deals offered by Chesa Boudin in fentanyl-dealing cases, which could lead to increased incarceration rates.
Posted inHealth & Wellness
Music festivals embrace overdose reversal drugs, but fentanyl testing kits remain taboo
Music festival promoters are allowing distribution of overdose reversal medication as fentanyl deaths continue to surge. But nonprofits and volunteers are often left to do the work, and more controversial forms of harm reduction aren’t openly allowed.
Posted inCoast Life
‘Like a family’: Sí Se Puede, an addiction recovery beacon in Watsonville, looks to meet expanding need
For three decades, a single-story house — the state’s first bilingual recovery program of its kind — that sits on a quiet street in the middle of Watsonville has helped men heal their addictions. Many have gone on to successful lives and careers; others couldn’t outrun their demons. But those who have dedicated their lives to creating a brotherhood of recovery at the Sí Se Puede residential treatment program realize they are making a significant difference for the Latino population of South County.
Posted inEvents, Politics & Policy
‘They’re not trying to die’: How drug checking aims to protect users in a messy market
Overdoses claimed some 107,000 lives last year in the U.S. Public health advocates, researchers and activists want to help people find out what is in their drugs.