The City of West Hollywood joins the recovery community in recognizing Thursday, August 31, 2023, as Overdose Awareness Day, a global event held annually to remember and memorialize the lives lost to drug overdoses and to promote awareness about the importance of overdose prevention. West Hollywood City Hall will be lit in purple, the color of recognition for Overdose Awareness Day. The City will also participate by sharing #OverdoseAwarenessDay messaging in @wehocity social media.
“By recognizing August 31 as Overdose Awareness Day, the City of West Hollywood creates an opportunity for community members to honor and remember lives lost to drug overdoses or accidental drug poisonings, and to educate residents and community members on available substance abuse and addiction recovery resources,” said City of West Hollywood Mayor Pro Tempore John M. Erickson. “This is why we’re committed to renovating our cherished locations, like the Log Cabin on Robertson Boulevard, where community can gather to continue the work helping individuals experiencing addiction and substance abuse issues.”
Originating in 2001, Overdose Awareness Day has become the world’s largest annual campaign to end overdoses and stimulate action and discussion about evidence-based treatment and harm reduction. Numbering nearly 110,000 overdose deaths, 2022 saw the highest recorded deaths in a calendar year in the United States, compared with 109,179 in 2021, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opioid, has been a significant factor in the rise of deadly overdoses and accidental drug poisonings.
Fentanyl overdoses continue to be a significant and growing public health problem that impacts people across race, ethnicity, and the socioeconomic spectrum. The City of West Hollywood contracts with many agencies to provide programming and services for people with substance use disorders and has taken steps to educate and raise awareness about the harms of fentanyl.
In 2019, the City began partnering with its contracted and collaborative agency partners to distribute fentanyl test strips to the community. In 2022, more than 10,000 fentanyl strips were distributed during WeHo Pride weekend and more than 5,000 were distributed during the 2022 December holidays leading up to New Year’s Eve. In 2023, free fentanyl test strips and Naloxone/Narcan were available throughout the 2023 WeHo Pride Street Fair.
Accidental fentanyl overdose deaths in Los Angeles County increased 1,280% from 109 deaths in 2016 to 1,504 deaths in 2021. Fentanyl is an addictive and deadly synthetic opioid that has been found in counterfeit pharmaceuticals and illicit substances such as methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, and ecstasy. It is especially dangerous because people are often unaware of Fentanyl contamination within the substances they are using. The potency of fentanyl (as high as 50 to 100 times the potency of morphine) greatly increases the risk of overdose.
Accidental overdose deaths caused by fentanyl can be prevented by fentanyl test strips and a life-saving medication called Naloxone (or by the brand name Narcan). The fentanyl test strip is a harm reduction tool used to test substances for trace amounts of fentanyl and it provides an indicator of how lethal the substance might be prior to consuming it. Naloxone/Narcan quickly reverses an overdose by blocking the effects of opioids and it can restore normal breathing within minutes in a person whose breath has slowed or stopped due to an overdose. The most common form of Naloxone/Narcan comes in an east-to-use nasal spray that allows bystanders to help stop a fatal overdose from occurring prior to the arrival of emergency services personnel.
The City of West Hollywood is working on next steps in the renovation of the historic Log Cabin building, which houses the West Hollywood Recovery Center (WHRC) on N. Robertson Boulevard. In late June 2023, the California State Legislature approved AB 102 Budget Act of 2023, which contains $1.15 million in appropriated funding to support the Log Cabin renovation project; in July 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 102 into law. More information about the Log Cabin history and renovation project, visit the City of West Hollywood’s news website area: https://www.weho.org/Home/Components/News/News/10917/23.
Substance use and addiction recovery treatment services resources include:
- APLA HEALTH
(213) 201-1600 | www.aplahealth.org
Health services, HIV support services, and prevention/health education for people living with and affected by HIV, the LGBT community, and other underserved communities. Party Wise Crystal Methamphetamine Program offers risk-reduction trainings, support groups and community events for gay men who use methamphetamine.
- AWAKENING RECOVERY
(424) 209-7507 | www.awakeningrecovery.org
An affordable and safe sober living environment that motivates sustained recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction through its comprehensive structure.
- BEING ALIVE SYRINGE SERVICE PROGRAM (SSP)
(323) 874-4322 | beingalivela.org
8212 Santa Monica Boulevard (Behind AHF Pharmacy)
Saturdays 2:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
SSP offers participants free sterile syringes and needles, safe disposal, overdose treatment and education, HIV testing and referrals, condoms, and PrEP resources.
- FRIENDS COMMUNITY CENTER
(323) 463-1601 | www.friendscommunitycenter.org
Provides services for and conducts research with substance-using gay and bisexual men, other men who have sex with men, and high-risk transgender women.
- LOS ANGELES LGBT CENTER
(323) 993-7448 | www.lalgbtcenter.org/health-services/addiction-recovery-services
Provides addiction recovery services, outpatient treatment, Crystal Meth support groups, and one-on-one therapy.
- TARZANA TREATMENT CENTERS
(888) 777-8565 | www.tarzanatc.org
Provides inpatient medical withdrawal management and psychiatric stabilization, residential and outpatient substance use disorder treatment, outpatient mental health, and residential rehab for teens/youth and adults; primary care clinics; and HIV/AIDS services including specialty medical care.
- TWEAKERS PROJECT
www.facebook.com/groups/thetweakersproject
A group used for people to offer information, education and support to talk openly and freely about their own recovery from meth use or recovering from the trauma of their loved ones’ use.
- TWIN TOWN TREATMENT CENTERS
(866) 594-8844 | www.twintowntreatmentcenters.com
Offers six intensive outpatient treatment programs for adult and adolescent addictions in Los Angeles and Orange County (including West Hollywood location). Accepts most insurance plans and/or flex payment schedules.
The City of West Hollywood’s Human Services Division website area provides a list of service providers the City contracts with to provide addiction and recovery resources at www.weho.org/services/human-services/substance-abuse-addiction-recovery.
The people who take these drugs…..own the consequences.
Hardworking taxpayers are told to pay for the bad decisions these people make.
I hate the term “accidental overdose”, as the only kind of accidental overdose would be if the drugs fell off a shelf, like in an earthquake, and somehow made their way into someone’s arm or mouth. Outside of that, there are no accidents. People voluntarily ingest these drugs, and they know the risks, and they don’t care. I’m sure I’m in the minority, but I don’t see the rush to spend taxpayer money to try to save these lives, as I’m confident statistics would point out they will just do it again and again, until they ultimately drop dead. I’m… Read more »
here again with the negativity i see. you really dont seem to care about your fellow human. Just sad.