Opioid Epidemic: Cocaine, Meth and Heroin laced with dangerous Fentanyl, experts warn

Overdose by Opioid. A crisis of epidemic proportions, killing hundreds of people every day.

As doctors scramble to treat those addicted before they overdose, law enforcement works to stop the massive influx of opioids that flow across the southwest border on a daily basis.

Experts ABC-7 spoke with are concerned about the distribution of cocaine, meth and heroin laced with Fentanyl, a narcotic used to treat severe pain.

Public health officials have called the opioid epidemic the worst drug crisis in American History. So bad in fact, the Department of Health and Human Services declared the epidemic a public health emergency in 2016.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, more than 115 people overdose on opioids each day. As doctors scramble to treat those addicted before they overdose, law enforcement works to stop the massive influx of opioids that flow across the border daily.

Ray Provencio, The Port Director and Assistant Director of Border Security, told ABC 7 that people try to smuggle drugs across the border in many different ways. “We’ve seen everything. We’ve seen narcotics concealed in food,” Provencio said, “We’ve seen it in baby diapers. We’ve seen it internally as people swallow drugs to bring them across the border undetected.”

The types of narcotics seized at the Southwest border has shifted drastically over the last past six years. According to Customs and Border Protection BorderStats, opioids like Fentanyl and heroin are on the rise, with marijuana decreasing by at least 50 percent over the same period.

“In the southwest border, marijuana is down and the harder narcotics are coming up,” Provencio said.

The following graph, provided to us by Customs and Border Protection, indicate the amount and types of drugs seized at the West Texas and New Mexico Ports of Entry.

The change in types of drugs crossing the border locally also hold true for national drug seizure numbers.

Each month, hundreds of thousands of vehicles cross into the U.S. via ports of entry in the Southwest. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers are tasked with screening every single vehicle and the people inside them to make sure nothing illegal, including drugs, pass through.

“We have a multi-layered enforcement process,” Provencio said, “one that includes identification checks, X-ray scans, physical vehicle inspections, specially trained K-9 enforcement and officer interaction with drivers.”

Their enforcement process has been able to seize nearly 539 pounds of drugs from crossing the West Texas, New Mexico Ports of Entry over the last six years.

SLIDESHOW: A look inside CBP inspection stations and arrest rooms

Still, hundreds of thousands of pounds of narcotics go undetected, entering the U.S. and helping fuel the opioid epidemic blamed for a record high of nearly 50,000 deaths last year alone.

Kyle Williamson, the Special Agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Agency’s El Paso Division, told ABC-7 that despite CBP efforts, a large number of narcotics still make it into the U.S.

“For us, the biggest drug threats are methamphetamine, heroin and, of course, the Fentanyl. We have seized enough Fentanyl this year to wipe out the entire city of El Paso,” Williamson said.

Dr. Carroll Wayne Thornburg, an addiction specialist with Emergence Health Network, told ABC-7 Fentanyl is an extremely dangerous drug. “It is 50 to 100 times more potent than Heroin, ” Dr. Thornburgh said, “It is often mixed in with heroin, meth, and cocaine. There is no way for people to tell if they have ‘good’ heroin, meth, or cocaine (free of Fentanyl) or bad heroin, meth or cocaine (laced with Fentanyl).”

Dr. Thornburgh told ABC 7 Fentanyl is the reason for the higher drug death rate.

As a result of the dangers of Fentanyl, the DEA uses a special “Fume Hood,” an enclosed, vacuum sealed testing area, to examine any type of powder it confiscates. Agents must wear full-body protective gear, including a mask, gloves, and goggles when testing any type of powder.

As a precaution, there is a Narcan Kit nearby. Narcan is a medication used to block the effects of Opioids, especially in overdose situations.

The DEA El Paso Sector has never allowed anyone access into their drug holding rooms. Special Agent Williamson allowed ABC-7 into one of the agency’s drug holding rooms in an effort to shine a light on the epidemic that’s killing tens of thousands of people each year.

SLIDESHOW: Inside a DEA drug holding room

This particular drug holding room contains 10,000 pounds of drugs. The DEA will take samples of the drugs, and hold them for court. Williamson told ABC 7 that “once the case is adjudicated in Federal Court, we destroy it.” The narcotics are burned, Williamson said.

Special Agent Williamson told ABC 7 most of the narcotics seized at area ports of entry come from Mexican Cartels, who have distribution hubs in El Paso and New Mexico. Williamson said said the cartels who have hubs in the El Paso area include the Juarez Cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Williamson said the cartels are a businesses that simply supplying what’s in demand here in the U.S.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, The increased availability is leading to a higher number of people overdosing, and getting addicted.

Cynthia, a former heroin addict, told ABC-7 the feeling of the drug was so intoxicating, she was hooked immediately. She wanted to recapture the pleasure her first high gave her. “It’s what you call ‘Chasing the Dragon.’ I wanted to have that feeling again, that euphoria it gave me,” she said.

Cynthia got hooked on heroin when she was 15 years old, an addiction that lasted ten years. She said she first tried it, “not knowing, not realizing how addicting it is, and not knowing how my life was going to change at the moment I tried it.”

Cynthia was able to go to her parents for help. They put her in numerous treatment facilities, but it wasn’t until her mother died, and her baby was born addicted to Methadone (a drug used in place of Heroin to treat addicts) that she decided to ‘get clean’ once and for all.

She now serves as a Peer Support Specialist, helping others who are addicted to drugs.

Some believe the only way to combat the opioid crisis is with treatment.

Dr. Thornburg said there is a physical change that takes place in a person’s brain when they become addicted to opioids. “You’ve got to look at the brain first, there is a psychological dependence there and there are significant changes that occur in the brain as well. It takes us time to modify that, where patients are placed on medication where we can try to return their brains to normal function.”

Dr. Thornburg said that with addiction the body changes in two fashions: “It changes from a physical dependence, and also from a psychosocial dependence, and we have to treat both of those together.”

The doctor further stated, “the effectiveness of putting people on medication alone is about 35 percent, but if we include the psychosocial component and address the behavioral component, the success rate goes up over 90 percent.”

Others, like Special Agent Williamson, believe that in order to stop the opioid epidemic, the U.S. needs to attack the supply of the drug. “A lot of people don’t believe we can arrest our way out of this crisis, but I do believe that we can,” Williamson said, “Having a collaborative effort to combat drug trafficking, the leadership and the cartels – going after their criminal enterprise – is the way to combat the crisis.”

Williamson also believes the aggressive law enforcement approach should be coupled with community outreach efforts and a demand reduction program.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdose deaths are the leading cause of injury death in the united states.

Last year, President Donald Trump declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency. This year, President Trump has signed a bill providing $6 billion to address the crisis.