Fentanyl Crisis has arrived South Louisiana

CROWLEY - “Fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered.”
Those are the words of Anne Milgram, administrator, U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
And that’s the message Dr. Tina Stefanski, Region 4 Office of Public Health Medical Director, and her team are trying to get out to the general public.
Accompanied by Stacy Conrad, Region 4 Opioid Prevention Outreach Coordinator, and Keith Talamo, Chief Medicolegal Investigator with the Lafayette Parish Coroner’s Office, Stefanski visited the Crowley Lions Club Tuesday to discuss the opioid — primarily fentanyl — crisis.
“Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that’s 50 times stronger than morphine,” Conrad explained. “And it can look like anything — a powder, a pill, candy, anything.
“As little as 2 miligrams of fentanyl — an amount smaller than the point of a pencil — can be lethal.”
In a recent bust in Sunset, enough fentanyl was seized to kill 1.25 million people.
Why has fentanyl suddenly jumped to the top of the drug crisis?
“It’s easy to produce with the precurser chemicals the cartels can get from China and India,” Conrad said. “It’s cheap to make and extremely addictive. It increases the cartels profit margins.”
“It’s all about business and money,” Stefanski added, explaining that laws that prevent countries such as China from exporting fentanyl have loop holes.
“They send the raw chemicals needed to manufacture the fentanyl to Mexico instead,” she explained. “There, the cartels mix it up in barrels and trash cans and send it across the border into the United States.”
They get it here on boats, with drones, through tunnels and even through shipping companies.
The Sinaloa and CJNG cartels are flooding the world with poorly made fentanyl, killing more than 130
Americans a day.
Conrad said the drug is manufactured to look like other drugs.
“Someone thinks they’re taking a Xanax or oxycodone and it’s fentanyl,” she said. “More and more people are not aware that they’re taking fentanyl.”
Pills purchased outside of a licensed pharmacy are dangerous, illegal and potentially lethal. Some of the most common counterfeit pills are made to look like prescription opioids, such as oxycodone (marketed as Oxycontin or Percocet), hydrocodone (marketed as Vicodin), and alprazolam (marketed as Xanax); or stimulants such as amphetamines, often marketed as Adderall.
These fake prescriptions are often sold on social media and e-commerce platforms, making them available to anyone with an internet connection, including teens and young adults, Conrad explained.
Fentanyl has also been found in illegal drugs such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.
Louisiana fentanyl drug-related deaths increased from fewer than 200 statewide in 2017 to nearly 1,000 last year, according to Talamo.
In Acadiana, drug-involved overdose deaths increased by 219% from 2016 to 2021.
Stefanski said Acadia Parish is second only to lafayette Parish in Region 4 in the number of fentanyl overdoses.
Fentanyl overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45, according to the CDC.
“No community is safe from this crisis and the tragedy of overdose deaths is affecting our families and friends here in Acadiana,” said Stefanski. “From someone struggling with addiction to someone experimenting for the first time, this drug is claiming the lives of the young and old.
“Our goal through this media campaign is to alert the entire community to this threat. With fentanyl, there are no do-overs. One bad decision could be your last.”
Conrad said the availability of Narcan, “an opioid-reversing drug,” has saved a number of lives in the Acadiana area.
Narcan is available without a prescription at many local pharmacies. Anyone on Medicaid can get Narcan for free.
The Narcan standing order can be found at http://ldh.la.gov/opioids. Coverage varies by insurance carrier.
The group also touches briefly on the dangers of vaping, especially nicotine and THC products.
The Office of Public Health Region 4, along with local coroners’ offices and Acadian Ambulance have been speaking to various groups including first responders, civic groups and school officials and to educate the community about the dangers of opioids, prevention and the use of Narcan.
Any group interested in hosting a presentation should contact the Lafayette office at 3347-262-5311.