Editor’s Note: This is the fourth installment in a five-part series. The first article, second article and third article are available on iredellfreenews.com.
BY DEBBIE PAGE
At the recent “In The Know: A Community Conversation About Substance Misuse” symposium, Stefanie Duck shared her heartbreaking loss of her 18-year-old son Timothy “T.J.” Cothron Jr. to fentanyl poisoning in February of 2022.
T.J. was a 2021 graduate of of South Iredell High School, where he participated in marching band and MJROTC.
T.J. was learning to be an adult, working a full-time job at the Walmart Distribution Center and planning to join the military and get engaged to his girlfriend Sarah in the coming year, Duck said. However, T.J. began struggling with depression after his father’s worsening illness.
The teen began using oxycodone to cope with his mental health challenges and was hospitalized and put on anti-depressants after reaching out for help. While hanging out at his father’s house on February 17, 2022, T.J. and a friend took what they thought was oxycodone. It was actually a fentanyl-laced counterfeit.
Stephanie’s son Zack called at 3:13 a.m. and told her T.J. was found not breathing. First responders were performing CPR, intubating and shocking T.J. as well.
At 3:41 a.m. he was pronounced dead.
Though Duck told them that T.J. had admitted to using oxycodone, the first responders did not administer Narcan. Three months later, Duck learned T.J. had 18 nanograms of fentanyl in his system, enough to kill nine people.
T.J. gave great hugs, was generous and kind, and loved life. Duck is devastated that her son is no longer here to brighten the lives of those who knew and loved him.
However, she is turning her pain into purpose by sharing T.J.’s story. She has started a nonprofit, T.J.’s Story Lives On (https://www.facebook.com/tj.s.story.lives.on), and is active with the Forgotten Victims of North Carolina (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=100089270509828) and Fentanyl Victims of North Carolina (http://fentvic.org).
Duck was pleased that the Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education has put Naloxone, a nasal spray drug that reverses an opioid overdose, in every school. Her mission is to get it in every school office in the state and to train staff and SROs to use it.
She has requested that some of the state’s opioid settlement money be allocated to pay for Narcan supplies for every school.
Duck also believes that dealers who sell fentanyl-laced drugs should be charged with murder because they are poisoning people.
FENTANYL POISONING
Fentanyl is extremely potent, and is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin.
Fentanyl is correctly utilized in medical settings to manage severe pain, providing relief to patients experiencing intense discomfort during and after surgical procedures and those suffering from chronic pain.
Illicit fentanyl is legally or illegally manufactured and used in a non-medical manner. It can be mixed with other drugs like marijuana, oxycodone, cocaine, and methamphetamine. The drug can be in pill, powder, or liquid form and smoked, snorted, injected, or taken by mouth.
Because illicit fentanyl is not manufactured with strict quality standards, using it can easily result in overdose.
Fentanyl is undetectable in counterfeit drugs without test strips because it is odorless and tasteless. Heavier dosing (“hot spots” or more concentrated doses) may also exist in one part of the pill.
Fentanyl poisoning is the number one cause of death for people ages 18 to 45 in the United States. Taking just one pill can be lethal, noted Duck.
After ingestion, a rapid onset of effects on the body occurs, including extreme drowsiness and breathing shutting down, leading to respiratory depression, loss of consciousness, respiratory failure, and cardiac arrest.
The creation of fentanyl analogs like carfentanil, which is even more potent, is creating more danger since even touching or inhaling it can be lethal.
THE PAINFUL STATS
Provisional data from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics estimates that 107,543 drug overdose deaths occurred nationally in 2023.
Opioids accounted for 81,083 overdoses last year, with 74,702 of those deaths as a result of synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Methamphetamine and other psychostimulants took an estimated 36,251lives, and cocaine overdose caused in 29,918 deaths.
In 2023, an average of nearly 12 people died each day in North Carolina from overdoses. Preliminary state data from the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner shows that 4,156 people died from drug overdose last near.
NALOXONE NEEDS TO BE AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE
Duck urges people to have Naloxone easily accessible. The opioid reversal agent is available over the counter at pharmacies, and many organizations, including the Drug-Alcohol Coalition of Iredell (daciredell.com), give out Naloxone in the community as well.
Narcan is also now available at the Iredell County Health Department in the Statesville and Mooresville locations and through its Mobile Health Unit.
When administered to someone exhibiting signs of an overdose, Naloxone works to block the effect of the opiate or fentanyl. It can restore normal breathing within two to three minutes of administration.
Naloxone given to someone suspected of having an overdose, but who is not, is not harmful.
Currently, Duck said 27 N.C. school districts permit Naloxone in all schools, 70 allow school resource officers to carry and administer it, and 22 have no Naloxone policies.
PREVENTION STRATEGIES
Implementing prevention strategies is crucial to combat the fentanyl crisis and protect community health. Prevention strategies include:
▪ Making fentanyl testing strips widely available.
▪ Increasing awareness and providing events for community members to keep people involved and engaging with the NC legislature for more prevention and treatment funding.
▪ Employing harm reduction strategies, including needle exchange programs and safe disposal.
▪ Utilizing prescription monitoring and regulation by physicians and pharmacies.
▪ Improving mental health and substance use disorder treatment.
▪ Increasing community access to Naloxone, including having it available in all schools and given out by local community organizations and all all county health departments.