SAN ANTONIO — Bexar County's death rate with drugs is higher than the state average, according to Metro Health. The City of San Antonio is going a step further by calling overdoses a public health crisis.
On Thursday, City Council passed a resolution raising awareness on the serious problem and also called for expanding access to treatment and recovering services.
The city's Chief Mental Health Officer Jessie Higgins said they've been looking at this for about a year.
"We have an issue with access to care," Higgins said. "We have a large uninsured population, which makes its difficult for people to get access to services and care."
According to the city, methamphetamine leads in local overdose deaths followed by opioids.
"We have had more people dying from overdoses related to stimulants, which is like methamphetamine, than we have to opioids," Higgins said.
Higgins said that's a trend our area has been seeing the last couple years. Metro Health reports in 2023, 58% of drug overdose deaths in Bexar County involved stimulants such as methamphetamines.
"Part of that is not knowing what is in your drugs," she said. "So you think you are using meth, but it is laced with something."
In a chart provided by the city, last year the deaths in Bexar County from stimulant-related drugs was higher than the U.S. and state average. In terms of both stimulant-related and opioid-related deaths, Bexar County was higher than the state's average.
"We got to keep working until we lower the numbers significantly," Higgins said.
The public health crisis means more awareness and getting funding to the right places.
"We got to keep working on efforts like prevention," she said. "We have to keep working on outreach."
Part of the city's plan is prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery.
"Our area, our community needs more of all of it," Higgins said.
Higgins said it about bringing partners to the table, working with the county and looking at the funding.
According to the city, it has allocated $909,000 from the opioid settlement funds to Metro Health for fiscal years 2024 and 2025.
Metro Health also added the average age in Bexar County for a first time drug user is 13 and a half years old.
"This issue of substance abuse needs full compassion," Higgins said. And needs full understanding from people."
Through a release from Metro Health, District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo said the following:
"Our local harm reduction organizations that are on the frontlines of the opioid crisis have been calling for San Antonio to tackle this epidemic that has tragically cut too many lives short," said Castillo. "This resolution is more than just words on a paper – it is a call to recognize that when we scale our efforts with the County, we can save more lives."