It was created
for a purpose. I've used
it 5 decades in anesthesia,
but the misuse of fentanyl. So
I've seen it in pills that look
like oxycodone. I've seen it in
pills that look like hydrocodon,
I've seen it in pills that looke
so I've seen it in everything. e
abuse created something deadly,
even as someone working in this
field. It's blowing my mind.
Are we in a crisis?
You're absolutely in a crisis.
Well, how did this start for you? My back
pain, back surgeries, multiple k
surgeries is where it started. s
North Texas man asked that.
We don't identify him. I had
some pain doctors tell me that
fentanyl was great, wonderful d.
And then I had other doctors
that were completely against it.
He started taking it in patches for his back,
mixing them with other prescribd
painkillers when the agony wouldn't stop,
and when that wasn't enough,
he started buying illegally.
Doctors were giving it to me at the time,
and then people that were gettig
it prescribed would sell their
prescription stuff. In 2014,
he started buying illegally manufactured
fentanyl patches off the dark w.
But around 2016, he started seeg
fentanyl pills on the streets.
They were scarce.
When he had him, he had him.
And you better hurry up and get.
It started getting easier and er
and then it just got to where it was.
A river fentanyl has been a parf
his life for nearly two decades,
but it's really only become a
buzzword over the past few year.
The addicts, you
know, some juice disorder, been the same
doctor. CM Shada has been a pain
doctor in North Texas for 50 ye.
He says what's changed is who is getting
their hands on fentanyl and thee
in deaths that's followed.
Most people now know someone that died
from this, and so that's the difference. In
2018, 69% of unintentional syntc
opioid deaths were related to fentanyl.
But August of last year, 97%.
And the fake pills is what chand
everything. That's what moved the dial.
At this point, I mean, essentiay
anyone walking in here that's ug
pills that they acquired on the street,
they test positive for fentanyl, just period.
Erin Bitter is the program
manager at Symmetria,
a drug rehab clinic in Lewisvil.
We asked them questions,
you know, what are you,
what have you been using?
And they say. Percocets,
Oxys or Perk 30s M, 30s.
Part of our process.
We have to drug test them.
By and large they test negative
for every substance other than
fentanyl and their minds blown.
Shana says the influx of these drugs,
like any product,
comes down to supply and demand.
And he says it is really
important to understand.
The demand we see now has roots
in an opioid crisis many people
thought had been handled,
but is really just evolved
into something new.
The time period from 2000 to 200
was one of a mass escalation
of prescribing opioids.
Pushed heavily by the pharmaceul
companies, it was just rogue.
I mean it was so bad,
but that was not evidence based medicine.
That wasn't the practice of
medicine that was selling drugs
when the CDC published their
guidelines in 2016 and it was totally
misrepresented and doctors basiy
thought they could not prescrib.
And so abandoned patients,
but by then so many people
had grown dependent.
A lot of patients nationwide got abandoned,
didn't taper him, didn't offer m
any other treatment. It was horrible.
When I went in one day,
I was basically told that the
government had a new guidelines.
We wouldn't be where we're at if they
hadn't have ripped the carpet ot
from underneath us like they di.
We took a look at data
from the Texas State board,
a pharmacy. In February of 2016,
the month before new
prescription guidelines came ou,
there were 158,000 prescriptions
written for either fentanyl,
hydrocodone or oxycodone in Dal,
Tarrant, Colin and Denton count,
158,000 just that month,
six months after those guidelines in 2016,
a drop. Last December,
a month after the CDC released newer,
less strict guidelines,
the number of these opioid prescriptions
for our four major counties was
still down to about 126,000.
It just
picking up the phone,
I need some help, man.
I need some pills.
The demand never changed.
The supplier just shifted.
But in this case, it's moved,
you know, over the last few yeas
to specifically to the cartels.
And it's moved to fentanyl.
Make it look like oxycodone.
Make it look like hydrocodone.
Xanax. Yeah.
Experts say it's cheap and
low maintenance to make.
It's more powerful and more
addictive than other opioids.
So the supply keeps coming.
Fact that you're paying Russian roulette
is they need to know about that.
You know,
one time it was partying,
this time it's death.
Prescriptions for opioids in the state
may be down over the past few y.
But fentanyl related overdoses
in Texas have increased by 500%.
Take a look at this map we cread
from data collected from medical
examiner offices for Dallas, Co,
Tarrant and Denton counties.
Each mark is someone who died fm
a fentanyl overdose since 2015.
It is happening all over North Texas.
Do you think the people understd
like what this is? No. I didn'tw
fentanyl was created for a purp,
but it wasn't meant to create.
This. It's sad that they took something
that was meant to help and
made it into something bad.
In North Texas, I'm Morgan Youn.