CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — New data from the CDC projects more than 100,000 thousand people in the U.S. died from a drug overdose from May 2022 to May 2023.
Here in the Coastal Bend, efforts are being made to combat the issue though the Nueces County Opioid Task Force.
Dr. Xavier Fonz Gonzales is the director of Mental Health Programs for Nueces County and oversees the Nueces County Opioid Task force, though they haven't met in nearly a year.
"So, the opioid taskforce, it still does exist,” Gonzales said.
Part of what the task force focused on was training for law enforcement.
"One of those leaps and bounds was trying to get law enforcement trained in a special substance use disorder through PAARI. PAARI is the Police Assisted Addiction Initiative, so that was completed,” Gonzales said.
The renewed interest in the task force comes as opioid overdoses in Nueces County have increased. The most recent data from the medical examiner's office is from two years ago, when 97 people died from overdose.
"So, the last Opioid Taskforce meeting was back in November of 2022,” he said. “The major thing that came out of that last taskforce meeting is that we need to now regroup because of everything with COVID-19 and wait until some reports got made."
But nationwide data from the CDC shows a continued increase of overdoses across the country of 2.5% and as the county regroups the task force. Right now they're looking for people who want to help.
"Anyone is welcome, but what we rely on is that the stakeholders who are engaged with them on a daily basis are the ones coming to us and bringing that information back to us and say, "this is what I am seeing with the individuals that we are serving" Gonzales said.
The task force plans to meet again soon to discuss their plan of action.
