The United States marks May 9 as National Fentanyl Awareness Day, a highly addictive synthetic drug that is already the leading cause of death among those over 50.
The effects of the opioid, 50 times more powerful than heroin, are visible on the streets of two of the richest cities in the country, Los Angeles and San Francisco, where some neighborhoods are transformed into outdoor consumption areas.
“Most of what was the heroin business is now fentanyl,” Dean Shold, co-founder of the nonprofit organization FentCheck, told Lusa. “It has become cheaper for the cartels because they can more easily produce fentanyl than poppies for heroin.”
FentCheck operates primarily in San Francisco and Oakland in Northern California to prevent accidental overdoses. The organization distributes free tests to detect contamination of recreational drugs with the powerful opioid, making them available in bars, restaurants, and even bookstores and libraries.
“Fentanyl is very powerful. Two milligrams can kill a person,” Shold stressed. FentCheck modeled the program on what was done in the 1980s during the HIV epidemic, when condom containers in bars and restaurants multiplied. This time, the containers contain free tests, which give results in two minutes.
“This is targeting people who might use cocaine or MDMA at a party, trying drugs they’re not used to, from vendors they don’t normally buy from,” he explained. “They are the most vulnerable users because they do not tolerate opioids.”
These accidental overdoses occur when users use drugs laced with fentanyl, now known as “synthetic heroin,” which enters the United States primarily from the Mexican border.
The priority target is the age group between 30 and 34 years, where more overdoses have been recorded, but Dean Shold explains that there is a growing risk among adolescents, who use the preferred social network of Generation Z, TikTok, to find drug dealers . various illicit substances.
“We are seeing teenagers asking for pills on TikTok. That’s pretty scary stuff,” Dean Shold said. The tests offered by FentCheck are used to check if these and other illegal substances are contaminated, without recrimination.
“We don’t want to judge. A lot of parents say just don’t use drugs, and that doesn’t work,” the official said. “We don’t think the only answer is abstinence.”
Shold indicated that proof of this is the failure of recent decades, in which all strategies to mitigate drug use have failed.
But the use of tests has a proven preventive effect, which the organization accounted for by comparing overdose figures in its areas of operation, published by the California Department of Public Health.
“We have to provide these resources because simply saying ‘don’t do drugs’ hasn’t worked,” Shold said, assuming “we lost the war on drugs.”
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), fentanyl is now the leading cause of death among Americans under the age of 50. In 2021, 106,000 people died from overdoses and of these, more than 70,000 were victims of fentanyl.
With thousands of addicts, accidental overdoses, and more and more teens at risk, addressing this crisis has become a priority in many states. In March, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a “strategic plan” with $96.5 million allocated to the problem.
“More than 150 people die every day in our country from overdoses and poisonings related to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl,” Newsom said in the plan presentation.
“Our comprehensive approach will expand enforcement efforts to protect against transnational criminal organizations that traffic this poison into our communities,” he continued, “while prioritizing harm reduction strategies to reduce overdoses and compassionately assist those struggling with addiction. “.
FentCheck is just one of several non-governmental and non-profit organizations working to contain damage in the field.
In 2022 alone, it distributed 50,000 tests and has been working to bring consumers and store employees together, who are training them in the use of Narcan, an antidote that reverses overdoses.
“We are always restocking the bins with evidence and that gives us the opportunity to talk to the servers, to the customers and sometimes direct them to the MAT programs. [medication-assisted treatment]Shold explained.
The organization will begin testing in New York and plans to drastically expand its coverage in Los Angeles, where it is now limited to West Hollywood.
Los Angeles has seen the situation escalate, with fentanyl deaths in the county increasing 14-fold in the past five years.
At the University of Southern California (USC), the nonprofit organization TACO (Team Awareness Combatting Operation) is teaching students how to use the antidote Narcan, test the drugs, and understand the potential effects.
Awareness of the risks became more urgent when, last September, a 15-year-old girl was found dead at Bernstein High School in Hollywood after taking percocet (a combination of oxycodone and acetaminophen) mixed with fentanyl.
Even when the outcome isn’t tragic, a person can accidentally become addicted, Dean Shold explained.
“Any opioid can be addictive in about three days,” he stressed. “We believe that by encouraging drug testing and not using if they have fentanyl, we prevent more people from becoming addicted to opioids.”
The person in charge is optimistic about the progress of some measures, such as the dissemination of evidence and the decriminalization of some drugs, but he is aware of the seriousness of the situation.
“We get into an alley that is difficult to get out of.”
Source: TSF
