Fentanyl Crisis in Eastern Oregon

UNION COUNTY – (Release from the Union County Safe Communities Coalition) 

This is a lethal dose of fentanyl.

What is Fentanyl?  Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid typically used to treat patients with chronic severe pain or severe pain following surgery. Fentanyl is a Schedule II controlled substance that is like morphine but about 100 times more potent. Under the supervision of a licensed medical professional, fentanyl has a legitimate medical use. (from the CDC)

Illicit fentanyl is primarily manufactured in drug labs mixed in with other illicit drugs to increase potency of the drugs.  It is being sold as powders, nasal sprays, and pressed into pills being made to look like legitimate prescription opioids. Most findings of fentanyl are on counterfeit pills that are purchased off the streets, the Internet, or even a friend of a friend.

America is in a fentanyl crisis. Fentanyl… it is one of those drugs that can be anywhere at any time, and you may not know it before it is too late. Fentanyl can be absorbed into the body via inhalation, oral exposure or ingestion, or skin contact.

More adults between 18 and 45 died of fentanyl overdoses in 2020 than COVID-19, motor vehicle accidents, cancer and suicide combined, that’s just the adults.  The DEA warns that 4 out of 10 pills containing fentanyl likely have a deadly dose. We have to talk about it. We have to educate our kids and ourselves about it. The clock is ticking, and the numbers are increasing.  

(Recent press release from OHA) According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), from May 2020 – April 2021, deaths due to accidental overdose surpassed 100,000 for the first time on record. Sixty-four percent of those deaths were attributed to illicitly manufactured fentanyl (IMF). In Oregon, fentanyl-related overdose deaths increased by 74% from 2019 – 2020, for a total of 298 fentanyl-related deaths in 2020.

IMF has been prevalent in the northeastern region of the United States since 2017 but did not become prevalent in Oregon until 2019.  Since then, law enforcement seizures of counterfeit pills containing fentanyl have grown dramatically in Oregon. The Oregon-Idaho HIDTA reported seizing more than 1.3 million counterfeit pills in 2021 in Oregon, an 85% increase since 2020 and a 1,199% increase since 2019. Fentanyl is now the second leading cause of unintentional overdose in Oregon, after methamphetamine.

Here are ways you can help or educate:

1. Unless a pharmacist directly hands you a prescription pill, assume it is counterfeit and contains fentanyl.
2. Assume any pills obtained from social media, the internet, or a friend are counterfeit and contain fentanyl.
3. If you are using pills, don’t use alone and always have naloxone on hand and visible. If everyone is planning to use, take turns so that someone is awake who can give naloxone and dial 911 if someone overdoses.
4. An overdose is always a medical emergency; call 911 immediately. Oregon’s Good Samaritan Law protects the caller and the person who has overdosed.

For more information on talking to your kids visit ucsafecommunites.org. OR for information on getting someone help visit chdinc.org.

**Image from U.S. Government Accountability Office

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