The fight against a drug 100 times more powerful than heroin
As police fear fentanyl use is rising in Britain, the story of how it has crippled a US state offers a stark warning
MORGAN GILMAN, a 21-year-old hotel maid, was driving 80mph on a motorway through the US state of New Hampshire when she overdosed on fentanyl, a killer drug 100 times more powerful than heroin.
“The dealer told me it was stronger than usual but I didn’t care,” she said. “I took it in a Mcdonald’s bathroom and tried to drive home. I couldn’t keep me eyes open and the car rolled four times. When I woke up I was handcuffed to a hospital bed and my back was broken.”
A “goody two shoes” at school, Miss Gilman’s slide into fentanyl addiction is a common story in Manchester, New Hampshire’s largest city.
It began when a boyfriend gave her the prescription drug Percocet. That led to heroin and ultimately fentanyl, a hugely potent painkiller often used to treat cancer patients that was linked to the death of pop star Prince last year. Miss Gilman’s best friend later died from an overdose and she was in its grip for six months.
“I became a zombie,” she said. “My advice to anyone is just don’t ever start. I had everything I wanted – a job, car, boyfriend, dog, then nothing. I threw it away.”
Last year more than 52,000 Americans died of drug overdoses and the majority were from opioids like heroin and its synthetic cousin fentanyl. The figure was far higher than for gun deaths or car crash fatalities.
Earlier this month, police in the UK issued a warning after fentanyl was thought to have contributed to the deaths of six addicts, including four in Barnsley, and a suspected laboratory was raided in West Yorkshire. Police forces have urged heroin users to be “extremely cautious” because British dealers may have begun to cut the drug with fentanyl.
America’s Drug Enforcement Administration has described New Hampshire, a tiny state with 1.3million people, as “ground zero” for the epidemic. More than 500 people there died of overdoses last year. Near Manchester’s high street, a giant billboard says that 73 per cent of the state’s overdoses were due to fentanyl and urges users to “Wake Up”.
In last year’s presidential election the opioid crisis was the number one issue in the state. Days before the vote, Donald Trump came and met with families who had lost loved ones.
But as president Mr Trump has faced criticism. He recently announced a 95 per cent funding cut to the $388 million-a-year (£303 million) White House drug policy office, before backtracking. And his proposed 2018 budget includes $880billion cuts to Medicaid, the programme for the poor which also funds treatment for many opioid addicts.
However, Mr Trump’s appointment of Chris Christie to lead an opioids commission has been welcomed. The New Jersey governor favours treating drug abuse as a public health problem.
That is the approach being taken at Manchester’s main fire station which, in the face of the mounting crisis, has opened its doors to welcome addicts and renamed itself the “Safe Station”.
Any drugs or needles users bring with them are destroyed. Rather than being arrested, users are instead taken to recovery centres. The addicts are flooding in at a rate of 160 a month. They include Miss Gilman, who walked in on her 21st birthday and asked for help. She is now clean.
Spending an hour with Manchester fire chief Dan Goonan immediately makes clear the scale of the problem.
As he went for lunch Mr Goonan saw a man overdosing on the pavement a block from the station. He successfully deployed his supply of Narcan, the drug used to revive opioid overdosers.
Shortly after he got back to the station another man under the influence of fentanyl stumbled in. As firefighters took medical readings, the man was able to say his name was Derek, that he took the drug two hours earlier, felt “shaky” and needed help. An ambulance rushed him to hospital.
Minutes later two calls came in over the chief ’s radio, reporting separate overdose cases at nearby homes. A child was present at one of them. “This happens all the time,” said Mr Goonan. “This morning someone was handing out free fentanyl next to the 7/11 [convenience store].
“Just when you think you might be getting a handle on it, some idiot starts giving the stuff away.”
It is unclear why Manchester, a former industrial powerhouse, has become so mired. Addicts come from far afield to buy drugs. The nearby Route 93 is known as the “heroin highway,” although fentanyl has almost completely taken over from heroin.
Bill Goodman, chief medical officer, said the epidemic could be traced to America’s prescription practices, which have seen a quadrupling in opioid prescriptions over the last 15 years. Around three quarters of the world’s prescription opioids are now consumed in the US.
“Its totally insane,” he said. “And you can’t arrest your way out of this.
“A lot of these people have mental health problems and they don’t benefit from being in jail. It cuts across all strata. Everybody here knows someone who has been affected by this.”