Drug Overdoses and Deaths Increase Nationwide as Dangerous Fentanyl Trend Moves Beyond Opioids
Santa Clara warns students of increasing presence of fentanyl throughout the state
On March 30, Santa Clara Campus Safety warned about the increasing presence of fentanyl throughout California in a school-wide email, highlighting the strength and deadliness of the synthetic opioid.
Overdoses from fentanyl have been increasing in the country since 2019 but have exploded since the pandemic began in March 2020. The majority of these overdoses are the result of fake drugs that have been laced with fentanyl.
Many experts believe the causes of the epidemic include fallout from the pandemic, the increased supply of fentanyl from Mexico, and an increasing trend for fentanyl to be found in street drugs previously not cut with the drug.
Synthetic opioids that contain illicitly manufactured fentanyl were the primary driver of the 38.4% increase in overdose deaths between March 2019 and May 2020, according to the CDC. And as the pandemic raged, so did overdoses. In the year leading up to September 2021, there have been over 99,000 overdose deaths according to the CDC’s interactive map.
The alarming increase during the pandemic led the DEA to release their first public safety alert regarding the increase in fentanyl in illegal pills in September 2021.
“Counterfeit pills that contain these dangerous and extremely addictive drugs are more lethal and more accessible than ever before,” according to the alert.
The Recovery Research Institute theorizes that the pandemic has resulted in a disruption of support services, isolation and diminished social-life, and increased levels of social and financial stress. Increased drug use, especially among those under the age of 25, has been the result.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) delves even further into the effects of pandemic. In a 2021 research brief, UNODC outlines how the COVID-19 crisis could lead to an increase in drug production, trafficking and use. The report surmises drug use will result from loss of income and employment, and that such drug use will most likely continue even after all restrictions are lifted.
When Charlie Ternan died of a fentanyl overdose in his fraternity house at Santa Clara in May 2020, his friends found partial blame in the pandemic.
“Charlie died due to the stress that the pandemic caused,” said Ternan’s friend and housemate Tucker Seth. An uncertain future and social disruption definitely factored into his experimentation with the pill that led to his death.”
Another contributing factor in the epidemic is the increased supply of fentanyl from Mexico. Mexico’s cartels have improved transit channels, recently overtaking China in distribution to the United States.
“Because illicit fentanyl is so powerful and such a small amount goes such a long way, traffickers conceal hard-to-detect quantities in packages, in vehicles, and on persons and smuggle the drug across the US-Mexico border. It is difficult to interdict given that just a small physical amount of this potent drug is enough to satisfy U.S. demand, making it highly profitable for traffickers and dealers”, states the Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking in a February 2022 report.
In June 2021, the San Francisco Police Department seized 16 pounds of fentanyl that had been smuggled into the city from Mexico.
“The amount of fentanyl seized in this single operation is enough lethal overdoses to wipe out San Francisco’s population four times over,” said SFPD Chief Bill Scott in a Facebook post.
While the overdose epidemic began with fake opioids like the pill that killed Ternan, a disturbing new trend is emerging with fentanyl-laced cocaine and other drugs.
The result of supply chain issues caused by the pandemic has been a shortage of many drugs, like cocaine, that are in high demand. Cutting the drug with fentanyl extends the supply for the dealer. Unlike cocaine and other illegal drugs, making fentanyl is not dependent on climatic conditions, seasons or weather. Fentanyl can be made anywhere, and is therefore a much more accessible drug during a pandemic.
“Pills are being cut with fentanyl for cutting purposes in efforts to expand the amount of money that they can make, and just for supply reasons,” Detective Sergeant Scott Mead from the Santa Clara Police Department said in an interview.
“In our county, we see a lot of heroin, and pills in particular, being cut which are killing kids as young as 12 ranging all the way up to 55,” Mead continued.
In February 2021, San Francisco Department of Health issued a public health alert to sound the alarm regarding fentanyl-laced cocaine after seven people suffered overdoses over a two-day period. On March 7, 2022 three people were found dead in a San Francisco apartment from an apparent overdose of fentanyl-laced cocaine. A fourth person survived.
As the deaths and overdoses accumulate, many of those who have lost loved ones are searching for solutions. Charlie Ternan’s family founded a non-profit, Song for Charlie, which seeks to educate kids and parents about “fenta-pills.”
Calvin Uy, a friend of Charlie’s at Santa Clara, mentioned the lack of resources and information about synthetic opioids ahead of Ternan’s passing.
“We did not know about the existence of counterfeit drugs, let alone how prevalent and deadly they are,” said Uy. “What we really needed was a public education campaign, targeted at students and young people, and then we needed the guy who sold this deadly pill to Charlie to go to jail.”
For further information and resources regarding fentanyl proliferation,visit songforcharlie.org. The first National Fentanyl Awareness day will take place this year on May 10.