This October marks the first ever Fentanyl Poisoning Awareness Month in Texas as established by Governor Greg Abbott earlier this year.
According to Levelland Police Chief Albert Garcia, because there has been such an increase of fentanyl in Texas and it has caused the deaths of so many individuals, mainly younger individuals in age, the need to make the general public aware of what is happening is needed.
In order to help the state continue its fight against this dangerous and deadly drug, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is increasing its public awareness campaign and reminding Texans to take action now in order to help save lives.
“We thank the Governor for his leadership on this issue and for making Texas a leader in this fight,” said DPS Director Steven McCraw. “Fentanyl continues to be one of the biggest threats facing Texans of all ages as it flows across our southern border and into cities and towns across this country. We are losing too many innocent lives and we must continue to do everything we can not only to stop it from entering the United States, but also to educate our children, our parents, our teachers - everyone in our communities about how dangerous this drug is to every single American.”
In March 2021, at the direction of Governor Abbott, DPS launched Operation Lone Star (OLS) to secure the border and stop the smuggling of drugs and people into Texas; and prevent, detect and interdict transnational criminal activity between ports of entry. Since OLS began, DPS has seized over 431 million lethal doses of fentanyl across the state.
To help increase awareness, during the month of October DPS will launch a series of social media videos geared at educating Texans about the dangers of fentanyl and directing them to available resources through the One Pill Kills campaign. Governor Abbott launched One Pill Kills in 2022, as a way to educate Texans on how to prevent, recognize and reverse fentanyl poisonings.
The department’s Safety Education team is also offering specialized programing to schools, churches, community groups and other organizations that would like to learn more about the statewide One Pill Kills campaign and the dangers of fentanyl. This presentation can be tailored for a variety of audiences and age groups and is available free of charge. To learn more, contact a Safety Education team member in the area using the drop-down menu.
DPS continues with other awareness efforts which began as part of the multi-pronged One Pill Kills campaign, including public service announcements which air in the waiting areas of more than 180 driver license offices across the state, educational signage in more than 350 public facing DPS buildings statewide and a dedicated webpage housing resources and information about the campaign.
With the situation concerning the border between the U.S. and Mexico being a prevelant topic, Chief Garcia explained that fentanyl is one of the drugs that is becoming more common along with methemphetamines and other types of narcotics.
“The issue with fentanyl and why it is so dangerous is because it does not take much of the narcotic to overdose. Additionally, fentanyl can be put with any other narcotic,” said Chief Garcia. “Whether it be over the counter, non-prescription, marijuana or any type of substance it can be mixed with them.”
In Hockley County and in Levelland, law enforcement agencies have had to respond to at least a dozen instances where an individual has overdosed or in the state of overdosing on fentanyl.
“Unfortunately, it is our younger citizens that are falling prey to this,” said Chief Garcia. “Everyone reacts differently to it, but these individuals feel that they are getting something that is not laced with fentanyl and that becomes the case.”
Because the amount it takes for someone to overdose is so minuscule, Chief Garcia feels that it is important to educate the public on how dangerous the drug can be.
“It starts with educating parents and guardians and in turn they educate their children that taking any illegal narcotic is not safe,” explained Chief Garcia. “Additionally, it is important to guide children to not take any substance from strangers or individuals who not parents, nurses or medically licensed individuals.”
Chief Garcia added that through working with state and federal partners, they are seeing an up tick in seized narcotics with fentanyl. To his knowledge, Hockley County has seen one death due to overdose by the narcotic.
As illegal opioid use rises among young people, several bills filed by state lawmakers would require Texas teachers to be trained and equipped to treat fentanyl overdoses, both on campus and at school-related events.
Several bills called for educators and school staff at public, charter and private schools, as well as those at colleges and universities, to know how to reverse deadly opioid overdoses with Narcan and other overdose medications known as “opioid antagonists.”
These bills cover a wide range of topics regarding the use of overdose reversal medications, including allowing physicians to dispense such medication to schools without requiring identification of the user and setting training standards for school personnel.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Prescription fentanyl can be taken safely when prescribed by doctors. But a rise in its illicit use began during the pandemic and continues today.
Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than 107,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2021, the last available year. Synthetic opioids were responsible for 71,000 of those deaths, and they were largely from fentanyl.
Opioid overdose deaths increased by 94% among people ages 14 to 18 from 2019 to 2020 and by 20% from 2020 to 2021, the CDC reported. Since the pandemic began, there’s been wider accessibility to fentanyl and other opioids through social media.
In Texas, the CDC reported more than 5,000 people died of drug overdoses between October 2021 and October 2022. Overdose deaths involving fentanyl in the state rose 399%, from 333 people dying in 2019 to 1,662 people in 2021.
A majority of people who ingested a fatal dose of fentanyl had no idea the synthetic opioid had been laced with other drugs they were attempting to use.
Makers of illegal drugs often use fentanyl as a booster for other drugs they are selling.
Just 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be a lethal dose depending on a person’s body size, tolerance and past usage, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.