Drug supply, lack of recovery resources fuel fentanyl epidemic

Thanks to the event’s organizer, City Councilman Richard Johnson, and the six-member panel of local officials who see the negative impacts every day, the picture is clearer. Property crimes and theft are up as addicts work to fund their drug dependence. Domestic violence and other crimes against people almost always have drug and/or alcohol abuse as a root cause. And the county jail is filled with people who need to be in a medical facility, not a correctional one. Drug addiction also negatively impacts the area’s health care facilities, workforce and education system.

To counteract this problem, the fight against drug addiction must be waged on two fronts, and more resources are needed for it to be successful.

Until about a decade ago, the major problem was methamphetamine. Billboards throughout the state showed its devastating impact, often using disturbing images of meth addicts with rotting teeth and skin sores. Today, meth use still happens, but often in combination with fentanyl, as addicts use one to try to control the effect of the other.

By far, though, the most prevalent drug these days is fentanyl, a powerful, highly addictive pain medication that can be prescribed by a doctor after traumatic injuries or major surgery. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as a pain reliever, fentanyl is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin.

Yet, as with many such drugs, the more a person takes, the more their body gets used to it, and the more they need to take in order to feel its effects. Which is why, as local drug crime prosecutor Rocky Edmonds said, it’s not uncommon for addicts to be taking 20 to 50 fentanyl pills per day. In an uncontrolled environment, the illegally made fentanyl — whose strength is often unknown — can quickly turn deadly.

Laramie County Coroner Rebecca Reid said there were 30 overdose deaths in the county in 2023. About two-thirds of those involved fentanyl alone or in combination with another drug, and some of them were minors. That may not seem that high for a county with a population just over 100,000, but if you’re not disturbed by that statistic, remember that’s just those who died. An uncalculated, but certainly much higher number, are living among us, either fighting to overcome the addiction or succumbing to it every day.

As Laramie County District Attorney Sylvia Hackl, Sheriff Brian Kozak and Cheyenne Police Chief Mark Francisco pointed out, more needs to be done to cut off the flow of this (relatively) inexpensive drug into our area. Both CPD and the sheriff’s office have assigned officers to the local DEA drug task force, which is working to arrest and imprison as many dealers as possible. (At the same time, Chief Francisco noted, drug smuggling across the U.S.-Mexico border is a large part of the problem.)

At the same time, the county jail is so overwhelmed with drug addicts and others with mental health problems that Sheriff Kozak has directed that two pods in the facility be transformed into a mental health and drug treatment center, complete with psychiatric nurses, master’s-level counselors, targeted drug treatment and a fentanyl detection dog. As the sheriff told the audience, it shouldn’t be his job to provide such a facility. But with 60% of inmates suffering from a mental health issue, and some waiting more than a year for an assessment from the Wyoming State Hospital in Evanston, he feels he has no choice.

Which points to the main way the state needs to address this epidemic: providing more access to affordable, effective treatment options. Across the state, but especially here in Laramie County, there’s a serious shortage of mental health and addiction providers, and of residential treatment and sober living facilities, to help someone kick the drug habit and then remain drug-free for the long term.

Kurt Zunker, who leads Laramie County’s drug treatment court program, said there are only a couple of providers who can help addicts get clean and successfully re-established in the community. Often, the problem is that it takes four to eight weeks to get the necessary referrals to these programs and facilities, which is way too long for someone coming out of the jail with little more than what they brought in with them.

Mr. Zunker is a strong advocate for more state funding of residential treatment facilities throughout the state — including a 150-bed facility in Laramie County — that could get people off the street and into recovery as quickly as possible. (Volunteers of America is in the process of adding regional crisis stabilization facilities in Cheyenne and Sheridan and women’s substance use disorder treatment in Cheyenne.)

He also noted there are several Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) options available, but due to their high cost, only those with insurance can afford them. That’s why he also noted that most of his clients would qualify for Medicaid, if the state would accept the federal expansion of the program.

What seemed clear from the April 10 presentation was that local officials are working together to try to offer as much help as they can, as well as trying to evaluate risk factors in order to target prevention efforts where they’re most needed. Many are going well beyond the basic requirements of their job to try to break the addiction cycle for as many people as possible.

What’s desperately needed are the additional community resources to keep folks out of the criminal justice system and to help them become productive members of society once again.