Angela Reed, the new leader at the legacy institution, Turning Point, and Patricia Carter, her team partner, were guests for ‘The Conversation with Al McFarlane’ appearing to promote a first of hopefully more Town Hall meetings and conversations with school officials, classroom instructors, and especially parents and youth caretakers held on Wednesday, August 10th at the Capri Theater.
Turning Point founder and CEO, Dr. Peter Hayden opened its doors in 1976, having long sounded the alarm of an impending epidemic of epic proportions that could kill even more Black Americans and other BIBOC citizens of the state than a bullet fired from a Saturday night special purchased on the corner for $20.00.
Turning Point is one of the country’s longest running chemical health treatment centers that specializes in culture specific services, said Reed. With the recent expansion of programming, the center is able to provide support for up to five years, but the surge of fentanyl usage and overdoses has added a new dimension to the intense work already required to halt the demise of wounded communities.
Fentanyl has caused a 22% rise over 2020 provisional data in drug overdose deaths (1,286) in Minnesota according to the state’s Department of Health. The COVID pandemic has been deadly, but more 18 to 45 year olds in the U.S. have died from overdose deaths due to fentanyl than the virus.
According to the CDC, the numbers have topped 100,000 per year for the first time ever. Law enforcement officials have seized 50 times more of the stronger opioids than four years ago. That’s about 10 million illicit pills just last year.
So, I ask, is this information not critical enough for us all to sound the alarm?
Warning: The fentanyl epidemic is a crisis of historic and epic proportions. A reported 44 people, including minors, die a day from opioid abuse. The emergence of this synthetic opioid has increased the frequency of fatal drug abuse as its mindboggling potency can be up to 40 times stronger than heroin. Parents, educators, and leaders must become educated and aware of the dangers of using this drug even as directed by a doctor. The urgency is real, and seriously addressing a kind of chemical plague never experienced before in part due to social media platforms can help prevent addiction and dependency and death. Educating teens and adults about the serious dangers offentanyl could make someone think twice before trying it or even buying other illegal drugs that could be laced with it.
Fentanyl is a synthetic (manufactured) opioid. As a prescription drug, it is 50 to 100 times more potent than other pain medications like morphine. It has been used in medical settings like the pain associated with cancer. When a doctor prescribes fentanyl, it’s only available as a patch for the skin, a shot, or a lozenge to suck on, not as a capsule. Fentanyl manufactured illegally is made in labs and sold as a powder, dropped on blotter paper to look like tiny candies, put in eye droppers or nasal spray, or made into look-alike prescription pills. The networks all over the world are highly sophisticated operations with seemingly no conscious for the victims who suffer death from their criminal greed.
The Drug Enforcement Administration lab testing reveals that 4 out of every 10 fake pills contain a more lethal dose of fentanyl than ever before. It is officially reported that drug traffickers are using fake pills to exploit the opioid crisis, and prescription drug misuse. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports more than 100,000 drug overdose deaths in the U.S. in the most recent 12-month reporting period, the most ever recorded.
As reported by medical experts, nearly all fentanyl is manufactured in foreign countries (mainly China) and imported illegally. That leads to there being no controls on potency, distribution, and usage. Increases in teen use of the potentially lethal drug is said to be related to unprecedented mental health issues related to the continued presence and unpredictability of COVID19. Due to its high potency and addictive nature, fentanyl has increased the urgency for full-scale treatment for drug abuse that has metastasized and has put the victim in serious danger.
Criminal drug networks are mass producing fake pills and falsely marketing them as legitimate. Fake pills are easy to purchase, widely available, and sold on the street, on social media, and e-commerce platforms for anyone, including minors, with a smart phone.
Many fake pills are made to look like prescription opioids such as Oxycodone Percocet, Hydrocodone, Vicodin, Xanax, and the stimulant Adderall. The DEA and its law enforcement partners are confiscating deadly fake pills at record numbers. So far this year, the DEA has seized 20,000,000 fake pills often laced with fentanyl and more than the last 2 years combined.
The DEA has opened 912 investigations with a nexus to violent crime so far this year, and with their partners, seized more than 8,700 guns.
Turning Point Inc.
1500 Golden Valley Road
Minneapolis, MN 55411
(612) 520-4004
