Speaking to State Lawmakers, Dallas Leaders Promote Overdose Mapping That City Hall Resisted

As the dangerous drug fentanyl causes deaths and overdoses across North Texas, a new prevention method is gaining support from Texas lawmakers.

Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot fought for years to see overdose mapping become more widely used. He received resistance from the City of Dallas. One recent effort to get the city to join the program came this past September.

Creuzot learned that the city attorney at the time warned of possible liability for the city for disclosing medical information.

“When we were told that what was holding all this up, that a statute needed to be amended, I was extremely disappointed that that’s what’s holding this up. That’s it? Because we’ve had two legislative sessions since I was elected and we could have. And as you can see it’s moving right along, everybody is in agreement,” Creuzot said.

Two city council members joined Creuzot to promote the changes needed to remove liability for overdose mapping at a Texas Senate Committee hearing last month.

And the law has now been approved unanimously by the Texas Senate, which sent it on to the Texas House for action.

The city council members each had personal stories about their connections to overdoses.

“My first recollection of death outside of natural causes was my sister’s boyfriend who died of an opioid overdose,” Councilman Adam Bazaldua said.

Bazaldua told senators his sister still battles addiction.

Councilwoman Paula Blackmon spoke of her son’s friend who died.

“And just one pill, suffering from an anxiety attack, found it on Snapchat, and he’s not with us today,” Blackmon said.

Senate Bill 1319 removes legal liability and also requires cities, counties and other public agencies to participate in OD mapping.

Creuzot said it will help identify spikes in overdoses to rapidly respond with outreach programs in the community and help provide earlier information to law enforcement to help apprehend drug dealers.

Overdose mapping software is already provided by the Federal Government in high-intensity drug trafficking areas which include North Texas.

Agencies enter cases, and are required to exclude personal information such as names and specific addresses of overdose victims.

Maps for North Texas show gaps, including the City of Dallas, which Creuzot says has the most cases in Dallas County.

The District Attorney said early mapping of overdoses might have helped prevent some recent outbreaks.

“Since we don’t have the system we don’t know. There may have been some telltale signs coming up that would have allowed us for example to go to the school,” Creuzot said.

Texas Senators on hand when the bill came up on March 15th for final passage unanimously approved the overdose mapping law.

Creuzot said he hopes for quick adoption by the rest of state government to boost overdose prevention.