Fentanyl crisis town hall meeting at Laguna Beach on October 2

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid.Photo byU.S. Drug Enforcement Agency

The fentanyl crisis will be the subject of a town hall meeting at the Laguna Beach Cultural Arts Center on October 2 at 4:00 pm. The event is being hosted by Assemblymember Diane Dixon. Those planning to attend are asked to notify her office online.

"Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine," says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Free Narcan nasal spray kits, used in emergencies to reverse the effects of fentanyl and other opioids, will be distributed at the meeting by Project Eli, a nonprofit based in Seal Beach. The center is located at 235 Forest Avenue in Laguna Beach.

Perla Mendoza, who founded Project Eli after her son Elijah's death from a fentanyl overdose, will speak at the event, along with Professor Farah Khorassani, of the University of California, Irvine School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Sergeant Brian Gunsolley, of the Orange County Sheriff's Department, will also speak. He is active in the department's Above the Influence drug abuse prevention program and in Drug Use is Life Abuse.

Dixon will talk about the state government's response to the fentanyl crisis. The state has created opioids.ca.gov as a centralized destination for people seeking information about fentanyl and other drugs.