CHARLOTTE — Police, prosecutors, treatment professionals, and people who have been touched by the nation’s fentanyl crisis turned out at St. Matthew Sept. 21 for a community conversation about the devastating impact the drug is having across the Charlotte region.
“If you don’t think this can walk in and sit down at your kitchen table – you’re crazy,” Union County District Attorney Trey Robison told more than 50 parents, grandparents and young people gathered at the church. “This is a public health crisis on a massive scale…It can reach anybody.”
To amplify the point, a 19-year-old man – two years sober now – told his story of how experimentation with marijuana in fifth grade led to drinking, drugs and addiction to fentanyl in high school. That is, until he ended up on the bathroom floor of a gas station popping pills, vomiting, crying – and finally deciding to get help.
Together, this persuasive panel of speakers painted the picture of an underappreciated epidemic that can kill an unsuspecting user the first time – or any time thereafter.
Suspected fentanyl deaths in Mecklenburg County have approached or surpassed 200 every year since 2020, with numbers rising in 2023, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police statistics.
“It’s really out of hand now,” said CMPD officer Donahue. “Fentanyl does not discriminate. We’ve had deaths of people from 11 to 69,” including all socioeconomic, racial and ethnic groups.
Some takeaways:
- Pharmaceutical fentanyl is a synthetic opioid approved for treating severe pain, typically advanced cancer pain. It is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.
- Because it’s cheap and highly addictive, drug dealers make fake prescription pills laced with fentanyl to drive profits and demand.
- Laced pills look identical to such drugs as OxyContin, Percocet and Xanax that users seek, and are often deadly. The only safe prescription pills are those that come from a doctor or pharmacy.
- Even marijuana can be laced with fentanyl to intensify the effect and create addiction.
- Six out of 10 fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills analyzed in 2022 contained a lethal dose of fentanyl, according to a federal alert.
Medical professionals offered some hope during the conversation, saying even fentanyl addiction can be treated – as it was for the now-sober young man who spoke eloquently to the crowd. He cited his family’s unconditional love and support, and effective treatment from his counselors.
Father John Allen said St. Matthew hosted the event to help raise awareness and connect people with resources: “We opened this event up to the community because people are dying from this epidemic, most of them unaware of the dangers of fentanyl,” said Father Allen, administrator of St. Matthew. “My hope is we saved at least one life tonight and opened people’s eyes – and it’s important to remember that God offers hope and refuge no matter what the circumstances.”
— Catholic News Herald