AUSTIN, Texas — The drug overdose crisis is getting worse in Austin and Travis County.
On the one-year mark since Travis County leaders declared the overdose crisis a public health emergency, community advocates said more needs to be done to prevent accidental drug deaths.
On Wednesday, the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance and other nonprofits called on Travis County and the City of Austin to create a community advisory process. Their belief is that input from the community will help ensure that the millions of dollars the City and County have received from opioid abatement funds will help fight the surge of overdose deaths.
Without it, advocates said the money will continue funding broken systems.
Travis County Judge Andy Brown said the County and City have each received more than $1 million so far. More is expected.
According to the Travis County Medical Examiner's 2022 Annual Report, accidental drug deaths from illicit drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl have increased since 2019.
Deaths from meth and fentanyl saw big increases from 2021 to 2022. Below is a breakdown.
Fentanyl overdose deaths:
- 2019: 22
- 2020: 35
- 2021: 118
- 2022: 245
Meth overdose deaths:
- 2019: 68
- 2020: 94
- 2021: 129
- 2022: 248
Cocaine overdose deaths:
- 2019: 51
- 2020: 61
- 2021: 112
- 2022: 137
The only number that decreased from 2021 to 2022 was accidental drug deaths from heroin:
- 2019: 51
- 2020: 56
- 2021: 44
- 2022: 33
Cate Graziani is the executive director of the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance.
"We are devastated by the loss of our community members, loved ones, neighbors, friends. But it's not because what we're doing isn't working. It's because we need to do more. We've taken some steps in the right direction, but we need to go further," Graziani said.
"The fentanyl deaths have skyrocketed again, and they would have been worse if it weren't for the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance and others who are distributing Narcan," Brown said.
Travis County has already allocated approximately $350,000 toward programs that help reduce overdose deaths. Brown said he asked Travis County commissioners to invest another $750,000 in the next budget cycle.
Brown also announced that the County is working with the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance to create a community organization made up of people with lived experiences, elected officials, public health workers and others to help determine how to spend the opioid dollars coming from settlements.
Both Graziani and Brown said Texas lawmakers had a chance to pass meaningful overdose prevention efforts, like legalizing fentanyl testing strips, this session but failed.
Travis County Commissioner Ann Howard said the opioid crisis has affected every school district and community in Travis County.
"Every single one of them is experiencing death from the opioid addiction," Howard said.
Austin City Councilmember Vanessa Fuentes (District 2) said in the coming weeks, the City plans to unveil a dashboard to keep track of fatal and non-fatal drug overdoses. Fuentes also said the dashboard will offer resources, like where to find Narcan, for people seeking help.
"This is about standing shoulder to shoulder with our organizers, with our advocates," Fuentes said. "We're all committed to reducing harm in our community, ensuring that we are destigmatizing drug use and providing services to our community."
Austin City Councilmember Zo Qadri (District 9) said no one should ever have to die on our streets, referring to the unhoused population affected by the opioid overdose crisis.
"Many of these neighbors of ours are dealing with substance abuse issues, and there are dealers that are preying upon them with fentanyl-laced products," Qadri said.