The Los Angeles City Council is moving forward with plans for a new pilot program to distribute naloxone, an opioid reversal medication, in South Los Angeles neighborhoods.
The motion was first introduced by Ninth and Tenth district council members Curren Price and Heather Hutt in early February – both which represent sections of South LA – to address the ongoing overdose crisis.
The unanimous vote among those at Friday’s meeting will result in an upcoming report on the resources the program will require.
Council members Bob Blumenfield, Ysabel Jurado, Adrin Nazarian, Nithya Raman and Katy Yaroslavsky were absent during the vote.
The City Council expects to fund the program using available funds from a 2021 opioid settlement. LA is due to receive $29.6 million to $53.3 million over an 18-year period from two opioid distributors in. Of that pool, approximately 80% of the money is restricted for future opioid remediation and the remaining 20% for opioid-related projects according to city documents.
According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, over 3,000 people lost their lives to drug overdose in 2023.
Lawmakers point to Fentanyl as the leading cause of recent cases. The highly prevalent and cheaply manufactured synthetic drug is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more than morphine.
A recent report from the county Department of Public Health found that fentanyl-related deaths increased from 109 to 1,970 between 2016 and 2023 – a roughly 1700% increase.
“By expanding access to naloxone, we can empower first responders, community members, and individuals to act swiftly and reduce fatalities, especially in poor neighborhoods where the death rate from fentanyl was at least twice as high,” the motion reads.
