By LINDA CHION KENNEY
Hillsborough County commissioners highlighted in a proclamation this month the prevalence and dangers of fentanyl addiction, which in turn led to a discussion of untimely deaths that have affected the lives of two invited speakers.
At the June 5 regular meeting, commissioners heard from Joshua Wostal, one of their own, who brought the proclamation on behalf of the board. It recognized June 6 as “Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day” in Hillsborough County and called for continued efforts “to educate the public regarding the effects of fentanyl” and “explore ways to provide the community with resources to combat the public health crisis.”
Hillsborough County Photo
At their June 5 meeting, Hillsborough County Commissioners issued a proclamation declaring June 6 “Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day” in Hillsborough County.
Wostal noted the countless cities and counties nationwide that “have dedicated themselves to fighting an epidemic that is killing countless numbers of people and destroying families.”
Noting that fentanyl addiction “has been increasing with each passing year,” Wostal said what is deeply troubling is that the drug not only has been manufactured with other illicit drugs, thus increasing its potency, but also has been “pressed into counterfeit pills to look like legitimate pharmaceutical drugs.”
Wostal praised local courts and law enforcement in their fight against fentanyl addiction before presenting the proclamation to Ellen Snelling, chair of the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance, and Wanda Broughton, who lost her grandchild to fentanyl poisoning.
“This drug is so much more potent than morphine and oxycodone and just a speck of it can kill,” Snelling said, noting that she “very sadly” lost her younger brother to addiction, after a back injury led to an oxycodone prescription, and then to the use of heroin after a crackdown on pill mills.
“We were all trying to get him the help he needed,” Snelling said. “But addiction is a disease . . . he had relapsed and used some heroin, but had no idea that it had fentanyl in it. And that’s the problem with fentanyl; it’s laced in almost everything now.”
Snelling thanked the commissioners for bringing much-needed attention to fentanyl addiction and asked them and meeting attendees to think about the number “583.” She said she was referring to the “583 brothers, sisters, daughters, sons, mothers, fathers [who] were lost in Hillsborough County last year” due to fentanyl addiction. “That’s terrible,” she said, and “we’ve got to do more about that.”
It went without saying that awareness is key, as Snelling offered her condolences to Broughton, who then spoke about the grandson she recently lost but not because he was an addict.
Rather, “he was experimenting with drugs, and this is what we see with the teens,” Broughton said. “We see that they’re targeted by these drug dealers who are lacing everything that you consider recreational drugs or party drugs with deadly fentanyl.”
Broughton said her grandson purchased a small amount of cocaine and had no idea it was laced with fentanyl. “He did the cocaine,” she added, “and within five minutes he was dead.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fentanyl poisoning was the number one cause of death in the nation among individuals ages 18 to 48, claiming two-thirds of the more than 107,000 lives lost to drug overdoses in 2021.
“They don’t prepare you for how deadly this fentanyl is,” Broughton said. “We need to fight back, and we need to fight back now. We need to fight back strong, and I think that this proclamation, and this declaration of fentanyl awareness day, is a really big step toward getting further resources that we need to combat this problem.”
On its website the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance addresses the Marijuana Task Force, Prescription Drug Task Force, Tampa Alcohol Coalition, vaping, Youth Making a Difference, and the serious health risks of Delta-8 THC, which looks like candy but is highly dangerous.
For more, visit www.hcada.com/. To view the proclamation reading and signing at the June 5 meeting, visit www.hcfl.gov/.