A 20-year-old Santa Barbara City College student died from an accidental overdose in the early morning hours of October 8, Lieutenant Erik Raney from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office said. The young man overdosed at a friend’s house in Isla Vista from a variety of unprescribed prescription medications including oxycodone, Xanax, and Adderall, in addition to cocaine and CO2 inhalation, his friends told responding officers.
Opioid overdoses have been on the rise in recent years. In fact, Santa Barbara County has had a higher rate of non-fatal emergency-room visits associated with opioids than the state average every year since 2010. There were 648 non-fatal drug-related ER visits in the county last year.
“We started off the first week of the school year with three overdoses, all of whom were revived with Narcan,” Raney said about the rise in overdose calls in Santa Barbara County. “The party scene is still very much alive in Isla Vista.”