In the last 10 years, Fentalyl has killed over 2,100 homeless people in Los Angeles. Bodies were found in parks, in cars, in motels, in alleys, at bus stops, in tents, under viaducts. Some collapsed on the edges of the busy streets of the metropolis, others in isolated areas of the desert. The oldest victim was 81 years old. The youngest, one day.

These are the shocking data provided by the Los Angeles County medical examiner's office, analyzed by the British newspaper The Guardian. They demonstrate how this opioid, 80 times more powerful than morphine and very cheap to produce illegally, is devastating the homeless population of the Californian city.

If 2023 marked the peak of the Fentanyl epidemic across the country (112,000 deaths), Los Angeles is the epicenter of this crisis, which claims victims among the most vulnerable, with the homeless on the front line. In this county as large as Trentino Alto Adige, 75,312 people have no home (a figure decreasing by 0.3% for the first time in 5 years). More than six of them die on the streets every day.

(Unioneonline/ss)

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