Nation’s fentanyl crisis affecting Permian Basin

Addressing members of the STEPS – Service, Transmission, Exploration & Production – Safety Network meeting at Midland College’s Carrasco Room on Tuesday, she noted fentanyl, a synthetic opiod, is used in pain management. 

But it also has illicit uses and is extremely dangerous and fast-acting, because in its liquid form can be used in nasal sprays, eye drops or dropped onto paper like little candies. And in powdered form, mixed with other drugs like heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine. The powdered form can also be mixed with other pills like oxycodone, Xanax or Percocet.

She cited statistics from Odessa Fire and Rescue that in 2022, OFR treated 12 overdoses in patients 17 to 29, 122 in patients 30 to 45, 73 in patients 46 to 59, 68 in patients 60 to 75, 56 in patients 11 to 16 and 43 in patients 75 and older. There were even six overdoses in infants below the age of 1.

“It’s not just high school kids, it’s all ages,” she said.

Don Hallmark, who lost his son Zane to an overdose in 2021, told the audience his son was 16 when he first tried drugs – at a party where cocaine was present. “He was hooked forever; he couldn’t quit,” Hallmark said.

Despite multiple stints in jail and rehabilitation programs, including Teen Challenge, which he said changed his son’s life, Zane decided to try one more time and died at 36. He was found by his 10-year-old son. Hallmark sports a tattoo that reads, “The addict may use, but the whole family suffers.”

“Find solutions, try different rehabilitation programs,” Watts urged. She added that addicts can receive support not just from their families but from their employers.

“If you think you’re saving your kids by not discussing fentanyl, you’re not,” she said.