WINNER OF 2023 ASSOCIATED COLLEGIATE PRESS PACEMAKER AWARD, NEWSPAPER/NEWSMAGAZINE NAMED BEST CAMPUS NEWSPAPER IN CALIFORNIA FOR 2022 BY THE CALIFORNIA COLLEGE MEDIA ASSOCIATION AND CALIFORNIA NEWS PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
Volume 163 No. 26 SERVING SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY
Council strips Torres’s assignments By Hunter Yates & Kaya Henkes-Power STAFF WRITER & EXECUTIVE EDITOR
San José Mayor Matt Mahan and the city council voted to remove District 3 Councilman Omar Torres from all council-assigned official appointments on Tuesday. In an email sent by communication specialist Seamus Gann, Mahan
and the city council unanimously voted to strip Torres of his assignments. “Torres is holding his seat hostage and taking away the right to representation from 100,000 residents of San José even after the entire council has called for his resignation,” the email said. After missing two weeks of public meetings, Torres’s assignments and
other appointments have been assigned to other council members. “While we don’t have the tools we need fully to remove him from office as the community has asked us to do, we can and have stripped him from all committees, boards and commissions,” the email said. Mentioned in the press release is that Mahan and council members feel that he has lost the trust if
the community and is no longer able to effectively serve the district. In a statement posted on Oct. 4 on Instagram from Torres’s personal account, he denies current allegations. “I cooperated fully with SJPD and turned over my passwords without issue as I have nothing to hide,” Torres said. In an Oct. 16 press release, Mahan and city council members
addressed the ongoing investigation. “Given the appalling nature of Omar Torres’ own words and the allegations against him, we believe that he has lost the trust of the community and is no longer able to effectively serve the residents of District 3.” The city council is calling for Torres to resign based on these allegations and questioning his
willingness to lead and represent the community, according to the email. “I am looking forward to the day when we have a District 3 leader who is worthy of the trust and respect of the community,” Mahan said.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ALINA TA| SPARTAN DAILY
Lets talk preventing overdoses By Jackson Lindstrom STAFF WRITER
Fentanyl is a very potent opioid drug that leads to many overdoses resulting in death every year. It can easily kill its user with a little less than a dose the size of a few grains of salt, according to the Facts Fight Fentanyl web page. Facts Fight Fentanyl is a campaign created by the California Department of Public Health that aims to educate Californians about important information regarding fentanyl, according to a California Department of Public Health web page. Jessica Hwang, the public awareness section chief for the California Department of Public Health’s Substance and Addiction Prevention Branch, is a spokesperson for the Facts Fight Fentanyl campaign. “Fentanyl can be present in any drug that is not prescribed by a clinician or dispensed by a pharmacist, and if fentanyl is present in a drug you cannot see it, smell it or taste it,” Hwang said. Hwang said fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. California had the most deaths out of any state in
the US, with approximately 6,500 fentanyl related deaths, according to an Sept. 27 article from USA Facts. Signs of opioid overdose may include symptoms such as constricted pupils, loss of consciousness, irregular or absence of breathing, being unresponsive to outside stimulus, vomiting or sounds of choking or gurgling according to the National Harm Reduction Coalition. Hwang said to reverse opioid overdose, people can use naloxone, a small, easy to carry lifesaving medication that sprays opioid antagonist receptors into the nose. “We’re really encouraging college students and all Californians to carry naloxone (and) to also learn the signs of an opioid overdose and as well as how to respond to an overdose,” Hwang said. “You could potentially save someone’s life, because you'll never know. It could occur anywhere, really.” Drug overdose in 2022 was one of the leading causes of death of young people in California from ages 15-64, according to a 2024 California State of Public Health summary report.
Shauna Simon, a research scientist at the epidemiology and evaluation unit of the Substance and Addiction Prevention branch of the California Department of Public Health, explained how naloxone aids in overdose. Epidemiology is the study of health and the spread of disease, according
doesn't have harmful effects if a person isn’t overdosing from fentanyl or another opioid.” Over 64% of cases in 2022 involving a fatal drug overdose had at least one opportunity for intervention, according to a 2024 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
What I’ve realized is that people should know that, yes, this is a scary thing but you shouldn’t be afraid. You should feel more empowered to help your community... Shauna Simon
A research scientist at the California Department of Public Health
to the National Library of Medicine. “(Naloxone) can reverse the fentanyl overdose, and it comes in the form of a really easy to use nasal spray, and it can reverse overdose because it is an opioid antagonist, which means that it blocks the effects of opioids,” Simon said. “It can restore breathing following an overdose, and it actually
Hwang said naloxone can be found at pharmacies and college campuses, which can be acquired without a prescription. San José State students can acquire naloxone at no cost at the Student Wellness Center and through the Santa Clara County’s Harm Reduction program, according to the Student Wellness Center’s web page. Megan Chaput, a
third-year animation and illustration student, said she would consider carrying naloxone. “Honestly, it doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me. I haven’t heard of (naloxone) before and it's nice to know that there is something to help reverse the effects of the opioids,” Chaput said. “I would carry it on me, or I'd at least have it in my house, if I'm not carrying it on me 24/7, I know I can at least ... have it for someone else if they need it.” It is unlikely the user will be able to reverse the overdose themselves when an opioid overdose occurs because they usually become unconscious, according to the CDC. Everlynn Nguyen, third-year business administration student, said she agrees with Chaput about keeping naloxone on hand. “If there isn’t any negative effect, then I suppose that it is good to have a lot of people having it and probably have some on site emergency area where they could access it,” Nguyen said. Aside from naloxone are fentanyl testing strips, which are made to test whether fentanyl is present in another drug, according
to the Facts Fight Fentanyl website. Fentanyl test strips are accurate between 96 to 100% of the time, according to the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association’s article. With this in mind, fentanyl testing strips are highly accurate, but it is important to realize they might not always be correct, according to the CDC. Always carr ying naloxone, testing drugs for fentanyl with fentanyl test strips, using sterile syringes, not mixing drugs, not taking drugs alone, and finding support and treatment are all ways to reduce harm, according to a California Department of Public Health web page. “What I’ve realized is that people should know that, yes, this is a scary thing, but you shouldn't be afraid. You should feel more empowered to help your community,” Simon said. “I think that combating this crisis is really a communal effort, and it's going to take people knowing how to help prevent overdoses in order to solve this crisis.”
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