We're seeing a rise in overdose deaths in the Bay Area this year, and a lot of them are caused by fentanyl. This is a crisis that goes beyond California though, it's being been all over the country. Everyone from local to national leaders are committed to bringing this fentanyl epidemic to an end. The Biden administration announced on international overdose awareness day that its providing $450 million dollars in new funding to tackle this issue.

But why has fentanyl taken over the drug landscape? what makes it so deadly, and what more can be done to combat its hold in our world? To help us take a closer look at this fentanyl crisis, KCBS Radio's Mary Hughes spoke with Dr. Chelsea Shover, assistant professor at the UCLA school of medicine and co-author of a 2020 study on fentanyl's spread to the West Coast.