Fentanyl flowing in; fatalities adding up

“We’re actually taking steps backwards,” Texas Harm Reduction Alliance Executive Director Cate Graziani explained of the fight against fentanyl during an April discussion moderated by the Texas Tribune, which featured commentary from a group of experts befuddled by the drug’s growth in use – and in lethality. “Every overdose is preventable. People shouldn’t die.”

Every day, however, people are dying; and, statistics provided by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) indicate more people are dying each year. Policing agencies throughout the state and Southeast Texas are also reporting that, even as the death rate attributed to the drug rises exponentially, so, too, is the prevalence of fentanyl found on the street. 

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Resident Agent in Charge Jason Wheeler has witnessed first-hand the uptick of fentanyl in the Golden Triangle. Wheeler said, as of March of this year, Southeast Texas had a reported 2,000 deaths in a two-year timespan, 1,000 of those transported via Beaumont EMS. 

“That’s a problem,” Wheeler summed up. “This is not something we will be able to prosecute our way out of.”

The DEA agent said his office participated in confiscating “probably the most significant amount of fentanyl Jefferson County will ever see” earlier this year. “It could probably kill over 100,000 people in Jefferson County.”

Wheeler detailed DEA participation in 458 seizures of upwards of 100,000 pills laced with fentanyl each raid, mostly produced by Mexican cartels that procure the chemicals from China manufacturers: “This is the biggest drug threat our community has ever faced.

“Beaumont is a major drug corridor. A lot of the product is stopping here in Beaumont.”

In the largest seizure of fentanyl-laced tablets in Hardin County history, Sheriff Mark Davis reported more than 10,000 tablets were confiscated in a drug raid and arrest of four men on March 17. According to Davis, the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Silsbee Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety, executed a search warrant, issued by Pct. 1 Justice of the Peace Chris Ingram, in the 600 block of South 14th Street in Silsbee.

Discovered inside the residence were thousands of pressed tablets, methamphetamine, marijuana, promethazine syrup and four handguns. 

“This is the largest seizure of fentanyl in Hardin County history and it shows the lengths these drug dealers will go to entice youth and young adults to purchase these tablets,” Davis said of the pills that appeared “very colorful and are meant to mimic a popular candy in a rainbow assortment of colors.”

Arrested were Travorris Omontre-De’Lano White, 20; Tyrese Jaquesz Harmon, 22; Theodore Lee Follie IV, 20, and Jorden Tyvone Edwards, 22, all of Silsbee.

The roughly 10,000 tablets, different shapes and sizes in a rainbow of colors, were laced with fentanyl. The sheriff added that investigators are working in partnership with District Attorney Rebecca Walton and the large-scale seizure is part of an even larger-scale ongoing investigation as authorities seek to identify other participants and suspects.    

 

Faking it with fentanyl

Fentanyl’s sought-out effects include euphoria, sedation and drowsiness; but, fentanyl’s delivery often presents with confusion, respiratory distress, tolerance and addiction, and sudden death in case of overdose. Overdosing on fentanyl is easy; only a fraction of a gram will do the trick. 

Jefferson, Hardin and Orange counties, which do not have their own HHSC provider, is covered under the Region 5 Prevention Resource Center of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council (ADAC). According to information from the local ADAC, fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 -100 times more potent than morphine, and can be used in powder, pill, liquid or mixed form for use by swallowing, snorting, injecting, or ingesting on blotter paper, patches and lollipops. 

“Fentanyl overdose rates have doubled in recent years,” ADAC reports. “Drug dealers are … creating counterfeit pain pills with synthetic fentanyl to decrease cost and increase supply and potency.

“Most users do not realize they have been given fentanyl until it’s too late.”

ADAC reports that street drugs are increasingly testing positive for fatal amounts of fentanyl present. Pills bearing markings to resemble Oxycotin, Xanax and other “designer” prescriptions are among the drugs actually comprised of a fentanyl compound.

“There is no way to tell if that white pill or powder is cut with fentanyl,” the ADAC details. “Fentanyl is colorless, odorless and tasteless. Unfortunately, users have become test subjects for illicit labs and drug dealers who are trying to find the perfect combination of cheap to make, easy to get, and most likely to cause addiction.”

According to Wheeler, a test of 10 pills by the DEA would return four with fatal fentanyl dosage in 2021; in 2022, six out of 10 pills tested positive for fatal amounts of the drug. 

With the launch of the Texas fentanyl data dashboard by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) as part of the statewide “One Pill Kills” campaign, data shows that fentanyl-related deaths have exploded over the last few years, increasing more than 575% over a four-year period from 317 in 2019 to 2,161 in 2022. The numbers also reveal that every region of Texas is affected by this fentanyl crisis.

 

Dropping F-bombs

Matthew Quinn of the Assistant U.S. Attorney’ Office for the Eastern District of Texas federal prosecution agency said fentanyl is the new “F”-word – and it affects more people than some may think.

“This is your kids,” he said. “It’s my kid. It’s professionals. It’s hard-working people who have been prescribed opioids … and now they’re turning to the streets.”

If you haven’t been touched by fentanyl yet; you will be, Quinn said.

“The odds are too great,” he said. “It’s going to happen.”

“They’re running out of room,” on the DEA’s “Faces of Fentanyl” wall, Quinn said, adding that fentanyl currently kills more people each year than guns and auto accidents combined.

Tristan A., a two-time fentanyl overdose survivor, said he became addicted to opioids following an athletic injury in high school. At just 15 years old, Tristan was prescribed powerful painkillers to cope with the injury. 

“I thought I would die a junkie,” Tristan said after the first time he overdosed on drugs. Tristan went to a detox program but sought out “street Xanax” to get through the pangs of the purge. Unwittingly, Tristan was again taking fentanyl – and again overdosing on the deadly drug. “A lot of things I wish I could go back and change.”

Fortunately for Tristan, the lifesaving Narcan was around when he needed it.

If naxolone, aka Narcan, is not present, ADAC asserts, “an overdose is usually fatal.

“Fentanyl is so powerful that it is considered a threat to public health and safety, especially to law enforcement, first responders and medical personnel who may encounter the drug.”

ADAC works to put Narcan in the hands of first responders and drug interventionists to prevent the death tally that continues to rise. Currently, five Texan deaths are attributed daily to fatal fentanyl overdoses. Entering September, the governor’s office announced a 60,000-unit allotment of Narcan to be distributed to all Texas police departments as part of the statewide “One Pill Kills” campaign. Law enforcement personnel, including municipal police, Independent School District police, and police departments at higher education institutions, will be eligible to receive a portion of this allotment based on county population and size.

As part of the governor’s plan to expand access to Narcan, a nasal medication that rapidly reverses opioid poisonings, the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) will begin the next phase of distribution at law enforcement partners’ request for their jurisdiction’s allotment. In April, TDEM began circulating the first 20,000 units of the state’s allotment to each of the 254 county sheriff’s offices in Texas.  

TDEM is notifying eligible law enforcement partners across the state of the upcoming distribution, and each may request their jurisdiction’s allotment through TDEM’s State of Texas Assistance Request process.

 

Fighting fentanyl 

“More than five Texans die every day from deadly fentanyl, and Texas continues to ramp up our efforts to combat the growing fentanyl crisis plaguing our state and the nation,” Gov. Greg Abbott announced this summer. “Texans must come together to raise awareness of this deadly opioid to our family, friends and communities.”

Jefferson County District Attorney Keith Giblin invites the public to join him and others for a town hall meeting to discuss the increasing deadly threat of fentanyl/opioid use in the community at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 20, in the West Brook High School Performing Arts Center.

Giblin noted Beaumont ISD agreed to host the awareness meeting and the Houston High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (Jefferson County Division) will be on hand to answer questions about this ever-increasing problem.  

Speakers will also share their stories on the devastating impact fentanyl and opioids can have.

Texans can now access information that includes fentanyl-related deaths from 2014 to 2023 at www.healthdata.dshs.texas.gov/dashboard/drugs-and-alcohol/fentanyl-trends/.

Dannie Oliveaux contributed to this report.