A recent drug overdose death is shedding more light on the dangers of fentanyl. In October 2018, Derrick Elder, 31 years old, passed away. Medical examiners determine the cause of his death to be fentanyl. Federal investigators believe Elder’s friend sold him percocet painkillers that were manufactured with fentanyl or a fentanyl analog.
WHAS11 spoke with The Healing Place, a long-term drug addiction recovery center. Heather Gibson said people tend to stigmatize who uses fentanyl.
"It's the person shooting heroin under the bridge or drunk guy shooting heroin under the bridge and that's just not the population., It spans socioeconomic status and gender, age, it really doesn't discriminate,” Gibson said. "I just think it could happen to anybody."
According to federal court documents, Elder became addicted to painkillers after multiple past surgeries stemming from playing college football.
"That's not surprising a former football player would develop an addiction to painkillers,” Gibson said. "It's not surprising for somebody who plays sports, there's a lot of injuries involved, especially when you're playing at higher levels.”
Gibson said painkillers can be safe if prescribed by doctors, but in turn, can cause addiction for some. She said she’s even seen clients who became addicted to painkillers starting from when they were first prescribed after a surgery to remove their wisdom teeth.
"There was a point in time where pain became the fifth vital sign and so doctors and nurses were constantly asking people about their pain level and then prescribing based on a self-rating system. So somebody who is has an 8 or 9 may be likely to get more and more pain medications when that might not necessarily be what they needed,” Gibson said. "They overuse them and so they run out of their prescription really early and so they feel really bad, they get sick without the medication."
Gibson said once this happens, people go through other avenues to get the drugs, including turning to drugs off the streets.
"When you're getting something from an unknown source, that's what you're getting. Something that is unknown,” Gibson said. ”You just don't know what you're getting. It's a risk every time you do that."
Fentanyl is especially being found in more drugs.
"It's kind of getting sprinkled in everything which is really scary,” Gibson said. "The truth about fentanyl is that it just takes a little bit and so as far as like drug dealing is concerned, it's profitable."
Gibson said fentanyl is being cut “with everything right now,” something she said is extremely scary. The numbers also back it up.
According to recent data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics, fentanyl is now the most commonly used drug involved in overdoses.
The report also found the rate of drug overdoses with fentanyl skyrocketed by about 113 percent each year from 2013 through 2016.
