SAN DIEGO COUNTY – Today, following a visit to the San Ysidro Port of Entry, Governor Gavin Newsom released his administration’s Master Plan for Tackling the Fentanyl and Opioid Crisis.

Recognizing the opioid and fentanyl crisis as a multifaceted public health and public safety issue, Governor Newsom’s Master Plan provides a comprehensive approach to save lives. The Master Plan builds on the Governor’s $1 billion investment to tackle this crisis — including an expansion of California National Guard-supported operations that last year led to a 594% increase in seized fentanyl. The Master Plan outlines aggressive steps to support overdose prevention efforts, hold the opioid pharmaceutical industry accountable, crack down on drug trafficking, and raise awareness about the dangers of opioids, including fentanyl.

WHAT GOVERNOR NEWSOM SAID: “Over 150 people die every day in our nation from overdoses and poisonings related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Enough. With this Master Plan, California is doubling down to combat this crisis and save lives. Our comprehensive approach will expand enforcement efforts to crack down on transnational criminal organizations trafficking this poison into our communities — while prioritizing harm reduction strategies to reduce overdoses and compassionately help those struggling with substance use and addiction.”

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Governor Newsom has invested over $1 billion to crack down on opioid trafficking and enforce the law, combat overdoses, support those with opioid use disorder, and raise awareness about the dangers of opioids. The Master Plan provides a comprehensive framework to deepen the impact of these investments — including through a new CalRx effort where California will seek to manufacture its own opioid overdose reversal drug Naloxone. California will further save lives through an additional $96 million in funding in the Governor’s 2023-24 proposed budget:

    $79 million for the Naloxone Distribution Project to meet increased demand and provide more Naloxone to communities than ever before;
    $10 million for grants for education, testing, recovery, and support services;
    $4 million to make fentanyl test strips more widely available; and
    $3.5 million in Prop 98 funding to provide overdose medication to all middle and high schools.

These new investments, coupled with the extensive abatement, enforcement, and treatment efforts outlined in the Master Plan will save lives and make California safer.

HOW WE GOT HERE: The U.S. has faced an evolving crisis of opioid addiction, overdose, and death for over two decades, driven by Big Pharma’s irresponsible marketing of prescription opioids – bringing us to today’s fentanyl crisis. Millions of Americans suffer from opioid use disorder and more than 71,000 Americans died in 2022 alone from fentanyl-linked overdoses and drug poisonings. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, a vast majority of fentanyl in the U.S. comes via ports of entry at the border –  through trafficking by organized crime rings, not by migrants.

Under Governor Newsom’s leadership, and through the state’s efforts to hold Big Pharma accountable, California has worked aggressively to tackle the opioid crisis. In the current fiscal year alone, the California Health and Human Services agency is investing $450 million in treatment, abatement, and prevention efforts. The 2022 Budget Act Governor Newsom signed into law included $30 million to expand the California Military Department’s existing drug interdiction efforts to thwart drug-trafficking transnational criminal organizations throughout the state, with a particular focus on assisting federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies in combatting fentanyl. To support the Governor’s initiative to reduce deadly fentanyl in communities, the California National Guard has hired, trained, and embedded 144 new members.

View the Master Plan here.