Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies and Behavioral Wellness representatives held a meeting on Monday to discuss the progress of Project Opioid — a joint initiative started in 2022 between the Sheriff’s Office and community leaders seeking to tackle opioid-related deaths in the county.
Sheriff Bill Brown, who in April requested $3.3 million in funding to put toward an additional narcotics investigation unit in response to rising opioid-related overdose deaths, noted that while overdose deaths are down in 2024 (with 88 as of June, compared to 111 as of June 2023), it is still “too early to tell where we will end up.”
Sheriff Brown explained that a drug called “tranq” — made up of fentanyl and xylazine, an animal tranquilizer — which is common on the East Coast, has now been found in Santa Barbara County, noting that the drug is “particularly insidious.”
The Santa Barbara County Narcotics Unit, Brown stated, has been broken into two teams, North and South, each composed of one sergeant and three detectives. Brown noted that last week, the Unit seized more than four pounds of methamphetamine, more than an ounce of fentanyl, and $53,000 in cash.
As for the Co-Response team, a field-response unit focused on mental health calls, representatives from Behavioral Wellness noted that things are “moving along well.”
The next meeting is set to be held on September 16.
