Public Safety

Opiates: A Fatal Epidemic in San Diego County

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Prescription drug abuse has become an epidemic in San Diego. Statistics from the County Medical Examiner’s Office show a significant rise in fatal heroin and other opiate drug cases in recent years.

More residents are dying each year of accidental substance abuse intoxication than they are in car accidents or suicides.

The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office produced a four-part video series exploring the crisis and introducing people whose lives have been torn apart by the drugs. The segments below appeared originally on DA News Center.

In Part 1, San Diego County is part of the national opiate epidemic.

In Part 2 of this series, we meet a mother who lost a son to an overdose.

In Part 3 of this series, we meet another mother affected by the prescription drug epidemic, but her son survived, although not unscathed.

In Part 4 of this series, we take a look at what the County of San Diego and the DA’s Office are doing to find a solution to this epidemic.