AUSTIN, Texas — At a press conference Monday morning, Travis County District Attorney José Garza said work is underway to prevent overdose-related deaths.
According to an April 2023 report from the Travis County Medical Examiner's Office, in 2020, there were 35 reported fentanyl-related deaths. That number jumped to 118 in 2021. Then it more than doubled in 2022, with fentanyl detected in the deaths of 245 people in Travis County.
Those increases prompted Travis County and City of Austin leaders to declare opioid overdoses an official public health crisis.
Garza said more knowledge about overdoses is the best way to prevent more deaths.
"The 'War on Drugs' has failed ... Our community will be safer if we treat it like the public health crisis that it is," Garza said Monday. "The truth is, we are never going to arrest and prosecute our way out of this crisis. But if we are able to increase access to information and tools that save lives, like Naloxone and fentanyl test strips, we can greatly reduce the risk of death in our community."
On Wednesday, Garza's office and the SIMS Foundation are partnering for the third-annual "Safer Together" benefit concert to raise awareness about local overdose deaths and connect community members with resources from organizations like Austin Texas Musicians, the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance and VOCAL-TX.
The concert will feature live music from Barb, Restos and McKenna Michels, as well as a comedy set by Dan Pyatetsky. The event will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Far Out Lounge, located at 8504 S. Congress Ave.
The concert is free to attend with RSVP, though donations are suggested. All of the proceeds will be donated to the SIMS Foundation, which advocates for mental health and substance use recovery services in Austin’s music industry.