HUNTSVILLE, Ala — According to the CDC, over 150 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
Here in The Valley, there has recently been a surge of suspected fentanyl-related deaths.
The Madison Police Citizens Advisory Committee spoke about this at their monthly meeting.
"We understand that there are a lot of quality things going on [in Northern Alabama] but we also want to make sure that we maintain that quality and the only way you can maintain that is, as things arise, being proactive and doing something about educating our community, educating people around us understanding what those concerns are and then what we can do about it.
Speaking of education, we'll start at the beginning: What is fentanyl and its intended use?
"It's a synthetic opioid, it is something that is most of the time used in the medical field. In the medical field, it is used for heavy trauma. It is used for people who are dying of cancer and need to get rid of the pain and on their last leg and it's something that's given normally before it can be given before any type of surgery," said Detective Russ Owens with the North Alabama Drug Task Force.
So, how did we get here? To this point?
"There were certain doctors giving out far too many narcotics for those pains, whether it be a broken leg, broken arm. So, the government decided we need to crush them out a little bit for how much we're given now because people still had pain. So, they went and found places where they could get rid of that being the black market my opinion," said
Fentanyl is being produced illegally and the drug currently is coming in all shapes, sizes and forms:
"So what are we see we are seeing pressed fentanyl pills that are in the shape of Xanax pills, Klonopin, Oxycodone, Percocet, Lortabs, you name it. As of late, we're seeing whatever color of the rainbow that you would like to see in that stuff. white, brown, gray, green," said Owens.
The Citizens Advisory Committee and local law enforcement will continue to keep the dialogue about this issue open.