Overdoses, drug deaths spike in Southeast Missouri

Alarming is the word officials are using to describe the methamphetamine/Fentanyl mixture now being seen in Southeast Missouri, including Poplar Bluff.

Authorities say this mixture is leading to an uptick in overdoses and deaths and was the topic of a discussion Thursday between local, state and federal officials.

"We are saying we have a problem" and meeting to "see what we can do," said Poplar Bluff Police Chief Danny Whiteley.

In comparing opioid-related calls for 2018 and 2019 and to date in 2020, "I knew there had been an uptick," said Butler County EMS Director David Ross. "Actually, I didn't know it was such an increase until I looked at the statistics."

Narcan, an antidote for opioid overdoses, was administered by Butler County EMS 85 times in 2018 and 86 times during 2019, he said.

As of June 22, Ross said, Narcan had been used 80 times. And, he said, those numbers do not include the times the drug was administered by someone else at the scene before EMS arrives or deaths, Ross said.

"That's a disturbing trend to see," Ross said. "You expect to see numbers fluctuate by a few percentage points, but we're talking about a 100% increase since 2019/2018 in our administration of Narcan to people."

Drug-related deaths

As Butler County Coroner Andy Moore began compiling the statistics for drug-related deaths in 2018, 2019 and 2020, he said, he also found alarming trends.

In 2018, Moore said, Butler County had 19 "related deaths due to drugs, so that was a great jump from 2017."

Butler County had seven in 2019, Moore said.

For 2020, "so far we are sitting at 16," Moore explained. "Like EMS, we've already matched/doubled our numbers pretty much."

Moore said he has spoken with the other coroners, including those in Dunklin, Wayne, Ripley, Iron, Scott and Mississippi counties.

They are seeing two to three, at the most five, Moore said.

The Cape Girardeau County coroner reported "they are seeing what we are seeing in Butler County, a little less," Moore said. "Per capita, unfortunately, we are ahead of Cape County in drug-related deaths."

Of the 16 overdoes for 2020, Moore said, he has "10 confirmed back from toxicology. I've got five pending, and one was in a condition that we were not able to do testing."

Of the five pending, Moore said, three were found with a needle in their arm or a tourniquet around their arm.

"They died instantly administering the drug," Moore said.

Family and friends on the scene of the other two deaths reported the person had a history of methamphetamine use or potentially heroin or some other drug, Moore said.

Meth/Fenatnyl mixture

Of the 10 "confirmed cases," eight had methamphetamines in their system, four had Fentanyl, one had Oxycodone and a couple had an opioid-recovery drug, Moore explained.

"What is alarming in the last few tests I've received back, and what I'm seeing as a trend, is methamphetamine and Fentanyl in the same test," Moore said. "What we need to know as a group is do they know that it is a combined drug that they're taking.

"Are the people dealing these drugs, are they telling them it is methamphetamine and this is Fentanyl combined because I'm not convinced at all that they know what they are taking."

Talking to the families, according to Moore, is heartbreaking.

"Anything we can do, funding, further prosecution to curb these overdoses -- is why we are here," Moore said. "This is starting in Butler County, but I believe it will be spreading to the other counties very soon."

Bill Callahan, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's St. Louis division, agreed the meth/Fentanyl mixture is alarming.

"As I travel the state of Missouri, I've heard about meth, I've heard about Fentanyl and heroin, particularly in St. Louis, but not so much the combination," Callahan said.

In talking with those in treatment and prevention, Callahan said, he was told there was an "uptick" of the meth/Fentanyl mixture in the St. Louis area and "down here."

When Callahan asked why, he said, he was given two explanations

One, "they didn't know" Fentanyl was being mixed in, Callahan said.

"The other answer was those who are using are trying to take it to that edge," he said. "That's what we have to understand about people suffering from substance abuse disorder.

"They're looking for that next high, the next way to take them to that edge. As the coroner said, 16 didn't make it."

DEA's approach

The DEA, Callahan said, is taking a three-pronged approach.

The first, he said, is "unrelenting enforcement. ... We are targeting organizations that come into our communities to deliver this poison."

Callahan said the second is prevention.

"In communities, we are partnering with treatment providers, we're partnering with law enforcement, partnering with EMS," Callahan said.

The DEA, he said, also is advocating for treatment.

Presiding Circuit Judge Michael Pritchett finds it alarming hearing of an overdose involving someone in the criminal justice system, but now "it seems as if those who are overdosing may be people who have never been in the system."

Pritchett is advocating for funding of alternative treatment courts and mental health issues.