Two 6-foot-tall empty chairs displayed Thursday through Saturday on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border represent loss from overdoses. One was placed at Waterfront Park in San Diego and the other at the Monumental Arch in Tijuana. Saturday, Aug 31 is observed as International Overdose Awareness Day.
Cecilia Farfán, a researcher at the University of California’s Institute On Global Conflict And Cooperation, organized the display. She said suffering on both sides of the border is connected.
“So what we want to do is take the empty chair, which is a symbol that, you know, different groups both in the U.S. and Mexico, have used to symbolize the missing loved ones precisely on this day,” she said.
Farfán said the display is a call to action for the U.S. and Mexico to work together to address the health and safety of border communities.
The U.S. is confronting a public health crisis driven by illicit fentanyl. And Mexico faces significant challenges related to harm reduction and treatment. About 80% of overdose deaths in the U.S. are from opioids, primarily illegal fentanyl, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report published Thursday.
In the U.S., about 2,000 clinics provide methadone — a medication used to treat addiction to opioids — including dozens in San Diego County. Farfán said there is only one methadone clinic in Tijuana.
“Unfortunately, there was a shortage at the border and then they went back to the black market to source substances,” Farfán said. “There were reports from these organizations that provide services in Mexico ... that they did lose a lot of people to overdoses as well.”
In the U.S., the overdose-reversal drug naloxone is available without a prescription. In Mexico, it’s strictly controlled.
“The problem is in Mexico, naloxone is not — it's not legal … part of our work is to try to solve that,” said Gretchen Bergman, executive director and co-founder of A New PATH. The nonprofit organization advocates for addiction treatment.
Research suggests that access to naloxone, harm reduction, treatment, and health care are needed to address the opioid epidemic and protect vulnerable populations.
Even though overdose deaths In San Diego County have started to decline, 2023 data from the county’s public health services department shows that about seven out of 10 overdose deaths were opioid-related. In Mexico, the scale of consumption and deaths is clouded by a lack of data and testing.
Both Farfán and Bergman believe overdoses are a shared crisis requiring binational solutions not limited by borders.
