HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-6 - Supporting Efforts to Eliminate the Threat of Fentanyl to the Newport Beach communityRESOLUTION NO. 2023-6
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF NEWPORT BEACH, CALIFORNIA, SUPPORTING
EFFORTS TO ELIMINATE THE THREAT OF FENTANYL
TO THE NEWPORT BEACH COMMUNITY
WHEREAS, fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat the nation has ever
encountered, and its increasing prevalence poses a considerable public health and safety
risk to the Newport Beach community;
WHEREAS, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 107,622
people in the United States died of drug overdoses and drug poisonings in 2021 and
approximately 67 percent of those deaths involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl;
WHEREAS, in Orange County, fentanyl-related deaths have increased more than
1000 percent from 57 in 2017 to 636 in 2021;
WHEREAS, many of these deaths are the result of drug dealers selling counterfeit
pills containing illicit fentanyl, concealing the presence of fentanyl from the user;
WHEREAS, on December 9, 2022, the Newport Beach Police Department
arrested a suspected narcotics dealer and seized approximately 50,000 fentanyl pills,
with an estimated street value of $250,000;
WHEREAS, the seizure of fentanyl by the police saves lives by removing lethal
doses of fentanyl from the streets;
WHEREAS, the Orange County Sheriff's Department and Newport Beach Police
Department have begun issuing advisements to all those arrested for selling narcotics
informing them that if a dealer sells, furnishes, or distributes drugs to someone, and that
person dies because of using the drugs, they can be charged with murder;
WHEREAS, the Orange District Attorney's Office has adopted a policy to advise
offenders convicted of certain drug -related charges that if they commit a drug -related
crime again and someone dies as a result, they can be charged with murder; and
WHEREAS, the Newport Beach Police Department is committed to taking
aggressive enforcement measures to eliminate the threat of fentanyl and bring public
awareness, through community outreach, to the dangerous and potentially deadly effects
that this illicit drug poses to the Newport Beach community.
Resolution No. 2023-6
Page 2 of 3
NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Newport Beach resolves as
follows:
Section 1: The City Council does hereby join with the Orange County law
enforcement agencies, in its commitment to eliminate the threat of fentanyl to our
community, by devoting resources to the interdiction of narcotics, holding accountable
drug traffickers', and raising public awareness about the dangers of drug use.
Section 2: The recitals provided in this resolution are true and correct and are
incorporated into the operative part of this resolution.
Section 3: If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this
resolution is, for any reason, held to be invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall not
affect the validity or constitutionality of the remaining portions of this resolution. The City
Council hereby declares that it would have passed this resolution, and each section,
subsection, sentence, clause or phrase hereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or
more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases be declared invalid or
unconstitutional.
Section 4: The City Council finds the adoption of this resolution is not subject to
the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) (the
activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the
environment) and 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378)
of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Division 6, Chapter 3,
because it has no potential for resulting in physical change to the environment, directly or
indirectly.
Resolution No. 2023-6
Page 3 of 3
Section 5: This resolution shall take effect immediately upon its adoption by the
City Council, and the City Clerk shall certify the vote adopting the resolution.
ADOPTED this 24th day of January, 2023.
HrrKUV GU AO 1 U rUK1Vl:
CITY AOORNEY'S OFFICE
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Aaro+C. Harp
City Attorney
STATE OF CALIFORNIA }
COUNTY OF ORANGE } ss.
CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH }
I, Leilani I. Brown, City Clerk of the City of Newport Beach, California, do hereby certify that the
whole number of members of the City Council is seven; the foregoing resolution, being Resolution
No. 2023-6 was duly introduced before and adopted by the City Council of said City at a regular meeting of
said Council held on the 24th day of January, 2023; and the same was so passed and adopted by the
following vote, to wit:
AYES: Mayor Noah Blom, Mayor Pro Tern Will O'Neill, Council Member Brad Avery, Council
Member Robyn Grant, Council Member Lauren Kleiman, Council Member
Joe Stapleton, Council Member Erik Weigand
NAYS: None
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto subscribed my name and affixed the official seal of
said City this 25th day of January, 2023.
r
Leilani I. Brown I
City Clerk
Newport Beach, California