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In recent years, cocaine overdose deaths have increased in South Carolina.
Although officials have claimed that this type of overdose was probably underreported in the past, law enforcement officials in the state said that fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid emerging at center of death opioid crisis.
"We are witnessing a phenomenon that, in my opinion, could not have been anticipated.We find a lot of cocaine encrusted with fentanyl," said Jason Sandoval, resident agent in charge of the Charleston office of the Drug Enforcement Administration. "We have to tell (addicts) that the cocaine you smoke could be loaded with fentanyl, you could have a respiratory arrest."
50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, fentanyl is a pain reliever usually mixed with other medications, such as heroin, to boost their effectiveness. Fentanyl has begun to integrate with the supply of cocaine in cities like New York, Massachusetts and San Diego, where officials have issued public warnings to unsuspecting users who believe they are receiving cocaine that they are running. a risk of opioid overdose.
The data suggest that South Carolina is not immune.
The fatal overdoses of cocaine increased by 167% between 2014 and 2017, with 235 deaths last year, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
During the same period, deaths related to fentanyl and cocaine increased by 1,157%, leaving 88 deaths last year. The state has experienced 32 such deaths in 2016.
This comes at a time when all deaths from fentanyl overdose are increasing in the state of Palmetto.
The DHEC drug mortality statistics are not mutually exclusive. Overdoses are included in several categories of drugs if the person has used more than one substance.
The DEA office in Charleston has started seeing cocaine with fentanyl over the past year. It's kind of a shock, Sandoval said.
To protect themselves from exposure, DEA agents must treat each drug, whether it is green and leafy, white and powdery or crystalline, as it may contain fentanyl.
Charleston, Richland and Horry counties led the state last year in deaths related to fentanyl and cocaine.
It is a trend that Captain Brian Godfrey of the Richland County Sheriff of the Agency's Narcotics Unit is following closely. In mid-October, about one-third of the 50 overdose deaths in Richland County were related to fentanyl. Of these, 41% involved fentanyl and cocaine, according to data collected by Godfrey from the coroner's office.
"I think people are linked to death by overdose of heroin and fentanyl or heroin just by itself," he said. "I do not think anyone thinks about cocaine in overdose deaths."
When fentanyl is mixed with cocaine, it's usually for the purpose of "speeding up," according to the national assessment of the DEA drug-related threat. This practice involves associating a stimulant such as cocaine with a depressant, usually heroin.
This is a dangerous cocktail, which suggests to Godfrey and others that most users do not know that their cocaine has been cut with fentanyl.
Health officials said people who did not tolerate opioids were at high risk of overdose when they used cocaine containing fentanyl.
"It's going to hit them harder," said Godfrey. "You do not have the chance to undo this bell."
Prior to 2014, information on overdose deaths in South Carolina was incomplete as not all coroners and forensic pathologists listed the drugs in issue when DHEC issued death certificates. The agency is now asking forensic pathologists to clarify the drugs associated with an overdose, said Angelia Saleeby, Director of Vital Statistics at DHEC.
Sara Goldsby, Director of the Department of Substance Abuse Services for Southeast Alcohol and Other Drugs, an agency that coordinates a drug treatment services system in the United States. Statewide, said that an increased number of toxicological tests allowed officials to better understand the overdose death in this city.
"We are only recognizing what has been happening for some time," she said.
At the Charleston Police Department, investigators are beginning to use ODMAP, a tool that allows first responders to map and track overdoses. Lieutenant Andre Jenkins, who heads the department's Narcotics Unit, said he hoped the tool would help officers locate areas of the city where drugs containing fentanyl appear.
"We can adjust our patrols and determine how to fight crime in this region," he said.
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