Bodies' discovery near San Francisco high school may be drug-related

SAN FRANCISCO _ San Francisco's medical examiner is investigating the deaths of three men found in public as drug-related, authorities said.

Police began an investigation after the men's bodies were discovered Thursday morning on the street near a high school in the city's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.

A person who works in the area found the bodies on the sidewalk around 4:30 a.m. on Page Street near Urban School of San Francisco, and the men were pronounced dead at the scene, San Francisco Police Officer Robert Rueca said.

Police said they have no connection to the school or the area, near the Panhandle section of Golden Gate Park, and it's not known if any of the men are related. Police said there is no evidence of foul play or weather-related issues.

Authorities who were trying to identify the men also shared concerns Thursday about a recent explosive spike in opioid abuse.

"People who buy drugs on the street are at risk of purchasing drugs contaminated by fentanyl, which is a very strong opioid, much more potent than heroin," San Francisco Health Officer Dr. Tomas Aragon said.

According to department statistics, 22 people in San Francisco died of fentanyl overdose in 2016, a 50 percent increase over 2015. 45 percent of those cases also involved methamphetamine, 27 percent cocaine, and 41 percent another opioid. The city logged 105 deaths from opioid overdoses in 2016, including those fentanyl deaths.

Tests revealed the drug's presence in counterfeit Xanax pills that led to three overdoses requiring hospitalization and one death in October 2015, and in crack cocaine that was smoked and caused three May 2107 overdoses requiring hospitalization and one death.

The city's harm-reduction strategy against fentanyl includes test strips at syringe-access sites to allow so that people can check drugs' contents before use, and the sale without prescription and coverage of naloxone, or Narcan, by Medi-Cal, Healthy San Francisco and other health plans.

In 2016, health officials logged 883 overdose reversals in the community, where naloxone administration by drug users or friends saved lives.

"It is essential for their safety to carry naloxone in case of overdose. It is a matter of life and death," Aragon said.