The same week President Barack Obama proclaimed National Prescription Opioid and Heroin Awareness Week, the Daily Lobo confirmed with UNMPD that a student overdosed on fentanyl — a potent synthetic opioid pain medication — at University dorms on June 16.
UNMPD Lieutenant Timothy Stump said the overdose resulted in death for the student, and investigators are still working on the case. It was initially called in as a heroin overdose, and later confirmed as a fentanyl overdose. Stump said UMNPD is still investigating where the drugs were obtained.
Brittany Haggard, chair of Generation Rx — a group of UNM student pharmacists that spread prescription drug abuse awareness to middle and high school students around New Mexico — said many drug dealers are selling fentanyl and saying that it’s oxycodone.
“Fentanyl is much more potent than oxycodone, and people end up overdosing on it,” Haggard said.
The pharmaceuticals drug dealers sell on the street aren’t guaranteed to have come from a pharmacy, she said.
Haggard said she was not aware of the fentanyl overdose on campus, and that the college-aged population tends to abuse stimulants rather than opioids.
“The reason is mainly so they can either study or party longer,” she said. “Those are examples of misuse. The indication on Adderall isn’t to help you study; it’s used for ADHD.”
Addiction to prescribed drugs can be a problem for high school athletes as well, Haggard said. Many of those prosecuted or arrested for possession of a controlled substance were high school athletes who had an injury and were prescribed painkillers.
“We don’t want anyone in general abusing drugs, but our target audience is teenagers because this is where we are seeing the problem first occur,” she said.
Haggard said students typically begin to misuse prescription opioids, and as their tolerance increases they begin turning to heroin, because it’s cheaper and easier to get, she said.
“Three doses of heroin is the same price as one oxycodone tablet,” she said.
Haggard said one of the most important parts of Generation Rx’s presentation is informing students that being caught with a controlled substance that wasn’t prescribed to them is a federal felony, which can disqualify them from receiving funding for higher education, and prevent them from getting a job.
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Generation Rx informs teenagers of statistics so they are aware of the prevalence of the problem in their state.
New Mexico has the second highest drug overdose rate in the United States, Haggard said.
“We used to be number one and now West Virginia has surpassed us,” she said.
From 2010 to 2014, New Mexico’s overdose death rate was 24.3 per 100,000 people, nearly twice the national rate of 14.8. Bernalillo County’s overdose death rate was 26.9 alone. Rio Arriba County’s was 78.4, which is three times that of the national rate, Haggard said.
According to the U.S. Department of Health, deaths from drug overdoses have recently declined in most counties in New Mexico. However, the issue remains a serious problem around the state.
Over 50 percent of the people who abuse painkillers get them from family members or friends. Many who turn to heroin do so because they can’t get prescription drugs, Haggard said.
John Steiner, program manager of the Campus Office for Substance Abuse Prevention, said COSAP just received a grant to develop strategies to prevent the abuse of prescription painkillers.
Steiner said COSAP is conducting a “comprehensive needs assessment,” interviewing staff and faculty around campus, as well as the Albuquerque Police Department and others outside of the UNM community, about their knowledge on the issue.
“We need to reach outside the University, because these problems cross University boundaries,” he said.
Steiner said that through their research, COSAP plans to find out where people are getting drugs, and who is selling them.
COSAP releases a substance abuse survey every spring, but it is mostly geared toward alcohol. COSAP is working on becoming more tuned in to learning about prescription drug abuse and heroin addiction by asking specific questions on the survey that pertain to the problem.
Stump said UNMPD is not aware of a prescription drug or heroin problem at UNM, as the department mainly deals with alcohol and marijuana use.
“I’m sure it’s out there, but we rarely come across it,” he said.
Sara MacNeil is a freelance news reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @sara_macneil.
