February 21, 2017 Our speaker today was Jason Sandoval, DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration] Agent in Charge, Charleston area. Jason joined the DEA shortly after his graduation from Hampton City College in Virginia. He has served as a field agent dealing with the drug cartels in Mexico and the Taliban in Istanbul. After years of kicking down doors and pointing guns he has found himself facing a new drug challenge: overuse of dangerous prescription drugs throughout the nation and yes, in historic Charleston.
The misuse of prescription drugs is more prevalent than the use of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, MDMA and PCP combined! The USA has 5% of the world’s population yet consumes 99% of the hydrocodone and 85% of oxycodone. AND 80% OF NEW HEROIN USERS START WITH OPIOIDS! 41% of teenagers view prescription drugs as being safer than heroin, etc., but high school students who use prescription opioids are 1/3 more likely to become abusers by the age of 23. Deaths from the use of prescription drugs are more than all the overdoses of heroin and cocaine usage combined. Among the popular PD’s are OxyContin, Percocet, Percodan, Vicodin, Xanax and Valium. So how are people getting these drugs? FRIENDS; MEDICINE CABINETS; DOCTOR SHOPPING; INTERNET; PAIN CLINICS
Medicine cabinets are a major source with 4 in 10 teens getting them from parents’ supply. Drug overdoses nation-wide result in 129 deaths per day. OD deaths in Charleston County are 70% higher than the national average. Dorchester County is 182% higher than the national average; Berkeley County is 139% higher than the national average. From 2010 to 2014 the heroin death rate nearly quadrupled!!
The most powerful opioids are: Fentanyl, Carfentanil, U-47700 (pink). All are marketed as heroin. In practice they are used as a cutting agent of heroin and can cause immediate death. The pathway to total addiction starts with PD’s, but when they run out heroin, which is cheaper than buying PD’s, starts with snorting, moves to smoking and crashes with needle administered addiction, and total loss of the realities of life.
The solution does not rest with law enforcement as these drugs can be legally purchased. Education is a must. Lisa Mitchel, a local parent who has started a program WAKE-UP, told us of the drug partying that takes place within the high school culture. All need to speak out about drug ads on TV, doctors who give a month’s supply of pain killers when a couple of days would be enough, and parents must lock up their medications. The danger is real; everyone needs to become alert to this very serious problem.
— Fred Sales, Keyway Committee