In the face of Riverside County’s ongoing opioid crisis, Sheriff Bianco is co-sponsoring Senate Bill 641.
Introduced by California State Senator Richard D. Roth (D-Riverside), this bill will ensure that all FDA-approved formulations and dosage strengths of naloxone, like Narcan and Kloxxado, are made available to schools, local health agencies, law enforcement, first responders, and community organizations across California for free. The Naloxone Distribution Project (NDP) is administered by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS).
“Our first priority is to save lives,” Bianco said. “Providing stronger naloxone is a first step. It allows our deputies to take quick action in a matter of life and death.”
Riverside County has had more than 1,000 deaths from opioid overdoses within the last two years, a majority stemming from fentanyl. The DHCS study “The Overdose Crisis in California: 2017-2021” reports that there were 11,361 opioid overdose deaths in California during this period, with synthetic opioids accounting for 73 percent of opioid-related deaths in 2020.
“Late last year, after several failed attempts to get the state’s NDP to supply our deputies with additional life-saving tools, I authorized our deputies to administer an FDA-approved 8mg naloxone product,” Biano said. To date, our deputies have used this product more than 45 times and, in all cases, the recipient survived. It is time for the state’s NDP to recognize that synthetic opioids are evolving and becoming more potent. The time for action is now.”
