San Bernardino County summit details local fentanyl epidemic

The first San Bernardino County Communications Summit of 2025 featured a presentation from a  behavioral health official on the county’s ongoing fentanyl awareness and resource campaign, officials announced.

Miranda Canseco-Ochoa, Department of Behavioral Health public relations supervisor, spoke about the awareness campaign “Fentanyl Doesn’t Care. But We Do.” 

The Jan. 21 event hosted by the city of Rancho Cucamonga in conjunction with the county and GoCal at Victoria Gardens Cultural Center, brought together more than 80 communicators from government agencies and private organizations throughout the region. Canseco-Ochoa’s presentation emphasized the escalating local fentanyl epidemic and highlighted how education, outreach and data are being used to counter the crisis in an attempt to save lives.

“Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine,” Canseco-Ochoa said. “It could have a candy look to it, and it is often laced in other (illicitly manufactured) drugs.”

Canseco-Ochoa outlined the dramatic increase in fentanyl-related deaths in the county, spiking from 74 deaths in 2019 to 436 in 2023. She also discussed how coordinated efforts have contributed to a decline in preliminary 2024 data, which the department makes available online in a publicly viewable “dashboard” platform, officials said. 

The DBH awareness campaign launched in June 2023 with the intent of using education to help prevent and respond effectively to opioid overdoses. With the theme “Fentanyl Doesn’t Care, But We Do,” the initiative utilized real-life stories of those lost to overdoses and the impact on their families to show that the crisis affects individuals of all ages and backgrounds.

Last year, the campaign highlights included distributing over 600 free Narcan overdose-prevention kits at the county’s behavioral health and public health clinics and targeted media campaigns to “high-priority zones and hard-to-reach areas, such as the High Desert and Needles,” officials aid. 

“Narcan is a life-saving tool that can temporarily reverses opioid overdoses,” said Canseco-Ochoa. “It’s safe, easy to use and accessible to all ages. We encourage everyone to carry it — because anyone can save a life.”

DBH also leveraged existing partnerships and collaborated with California State University, San Bernardino; Stop the Void; and Into Light Project to spread the word about overdose awareness and host events such as the Into Light exhibit at the Victor Valley Museum that honored the lives lost to fentanyl overdoses, officials said.

“(This) is obviously a difficult, tough conversation to have, and it’s something that’s affecting all of us,” Jennifer Camacho-Curtis, Rancho Cucamonga community affairs officer, said in a statement.

The county’s Chief Communications Officer Martha Guzman-Hurtado said in a statement, “It’s a responsibility that we all share — not to just inform but to guide, support and ultimately help our communities navigate the most challenging of times.”

For more information on DBH’s campaign or to request free Narcan or Narcan training, visit wp.sbcounty.gov/dbh/fentanyl.

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