The opioid crisis that is ravaging the United States reaches the capital, where they have had to take extraordinary measures to stop both the record of overdoses and to control the rise of violence that the city is experiencing. Washington thus recalls past times with figures of crimes, murders and deaths not seen for many years.
Only in the first five days of last July ten people died, with a teacher, an Uber driver and a university student taking part in the macabre balance. This was just the beginning, throughout the summer, of an increase in crimes against property, deaths from the use of weapons and deaths from drug use.
Concern over the high rates of violence opened a new episode: a councilor called for the intervention of the National Guard in Washington DC. There are reactions.https://t.co/cFP9Lxu8sL
— Univision Washington DC (@UnivisionDC) August 13, 2023
As he city center as the surrounding residential areas, including the adjoining wealthy areas of Maryland y Virginia, are being victims of an organized network of thieves. According to the police in the area, in recent months dozens of retail businesses and homes have suffered criminal activity, in some cases with violence.
Chains like CVS or Nike suffer robberies at any hour of the day and night, which cause losses of thousands of dollars and a feeling of insecurity among a population that has organized around digital platforms to share information. Sites like Nextdoor, which are usually used to buy and sell second-hand products, have been receiving hundreds of comments and home videos for months to alert them to the characteristics of the incidents in the most affected areas.
Knowing what has happened, how and where is the topic of conversation in these chats that confirm, according to data from the authorities, that the robberies in the area (not including automobiles) increased by 25% and the crimes against property 29%compared to the same period last year, reaching the highest percentage since 2017.
The overdoses that ravage the country have also reached record numbers in the capital, especially among the African-American community. In the United States, thousands of people are already addicted to fentanyl, which, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the United States (NIDA), is responsible for the 106,000 deaths from overdose, between 2019 and 2021.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warn that this substance can be between 50 and 100 times more potent than heroin, causing a person who starts taking fentanyl to become addicted more quickly, as Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Substance Abuse, recently stated. Drugs of America (NIDA), to the station voice of america. In fact, just 2 milligrams of this opioid is enough to kill a person who is not used to taking drugs, adds the psychiatrist.
The numbers of deaths from this cause have forced the authorities to intensify the response, starting the construction of the first stabilization and detoxification center for addicts, in the NoMa neighborhood. The mayor of Washington, Muriel E. Bowser, thus intends to give specific attention to these drug users while helping to decongest hospital emergency rooms.
The Bowser administration is seeking to keep the focus on the sobering centers as part of the District’s overall strategy to combat opioid use. The first center is scheduled to open at 35 K St. NE in late September or early October. https://t.co/nSmu2kadz6
— Post Local (@postlocal) August 10, 2023
He model is being copied from that started years ago in nearby Baltimore, which has the second-highest rate of opioid overdose fatalities in the country and twice the number of deaths as homicides.
The federal organization to fight drug trafficking in the United States (DEA) has recognized that the country has been experiencing the most devastating drug crisis in its history for a few years due to the appearance and consumption of fentanyl. This substance, which was born in the 90s as a powerful analgesic, is currently distributed and manufactured illegally, being responsible for almost the 70,000 overdose deaths that took place in 2021the year in which the statistics soared up to the present moment.
