OD rise linked to fentanyl use
The rash of overdoses in Butler County can be attributed to the increased use of fentanyl.
Of the 44 confirmed fatal overdoses in the county this year, 36 toxicology reports showed fentanyl in the users' system — with no trace of heroin.
Fentanyl, an opiate that is 100 times more potent than heroin, has risen in popularity in the county in the past two years.
Gene Troyan, the director of operations at Butler Ambulance Service, said the rise in both fatal and nonfatal overdoses in Butler County — which he averaged at one per day since the start of 2016 — coincides with the popularity of fentanyl.
“The increase (in overdoses) is because of the potency of the drugs that are mixed with heroin,” Troyan said. “The fentanyl, the carfentanil, are so strong that the users are finding out that their body can't tolerate that, because it does shut down their respiratory drive.”
He said that there is no way for opiate users to know how much fentanyl is mixed in with heroin that is being purchased.
There were 74 fatal overdoses in the county in 2016, and as of Thursday, there have been 44 so far this year. Butler County Drug Task Force coordinator Tim Fennell said there are potentially several more, pending toxicology reports.
Fennell said that opiate users are not specifically seeking out fentanyl, but are buying what's available to support their addiction.
“They don't have a choice,” Fennell said. “They got to buy what's out there.”
Drew McConahy of Butler is in recovery from opiate addiction. He said the potency of fentanyl is an attraction, not a deterrent, to opiate addicts.
“The stronger, the better, the more (they) want it,” he said.
McConahy added that often fentanyl is mixed with heroin and other drugs and sold. Fentanyl's prevalence, according to Fennell, is because it is more profitable for drug traffickers than heroin. He said it is manufactured in laboratories in China, and when it comes to the U.S. the price per kilogram is about $2,000.
Fennell said traffickers can make as much as $1 million from a kilogram of fentanyl.
“It's just a matter of money,” he said.
McConahy also said fentanyl is more accessible than heroin, because there are senior citizens in Butler who are prescribed fentanyl, which is legal in the United States and is used as pain medication.
He said often times they don't take all of their fentanyl, so their children or grandchildren take it and sell it on the street.
“If people aren't taking their medication, they should properly dispose of it immediately,” he said. “Don't let it just sit around.”
Like McConahy, Fennell said that fentanyl is often mixed with heroin and agreed with Troyan that there is no way for users to know if there is a lethal dose of fentanyl in what they're using.
“It's such a small amount of fentanyl that can be fatal, that when they're loading up their bags with the drugs there's no telling how much is in it,” he said.
He also noted that law enforcement's strategies are limited to being reactive.
“I don't know anything preventive (we could do) that hasn't already been tried and failed,” Fennell said. “All we can do is keep trying to get (fentanyl) off the street as much as possible, and investigate the deaths as well as possible, and follow up on those.”
