San Francisco Sees Troubling Rise in Drug Overdose Deaths

San Francisco has recorded more than 460 drug overdose deaths from January to August of this year, compared to 441 in all of 2019, according to the city’s Medical Examiner’s Office. The fatalities are chiefly attributable to fentanyl, a dangerous synthetic opioid that drug experts say only recently became widely available in San Francisco. We’ll talk about what can be done to prevent more overdose deaths, and why the pandemic is complicating some efforts to provide people the treatment they need.