July 27, 2022 |
Governor Mark Gordon yesterday put the blame for the rising number of deaths from fentanyl overdoses across the country and in Wyoming at the front door of the White House. The governor also issued a warning to residents about the growing presence of the deadly, synthetic opioid in the state and the danger it poses.
Fentanyl is produced in China and smuggled across the U.S. at the southern border with Mexico and then distributed across the country. Highly addictive, the drug can create breathing problems leading to unconsciousness and death.
Governor Gordon said in a statement that emergency responders are seeing a troubling increase in fentanyl overdoses around the state, and fentanyl seizures by law enforcement have been rising steadily over the past two years. Even small doses of the powerful opioid can be lethal. Fentanyl has shown up in Wyoming in both powder or a pill form, and it may be used to contaminate other illicit drugs without the user knowing.
Cocaine, for instance, is sometimes laced with fentanyl, with disastrous consequences for the unsuspecting user.
“Wyoming residents should be aware of the growing dangers and very real impacts to our communities as a result of this drug threat brought on by the Biden administration’s refusal to address border security,” Governor Gordon said in a statement. He asked residents to educate themselves on how lethal and pervasive this drug is.
Data from the Wyoming Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI) and Wyoming Department of Health show the increasing presence of fentanyl in Wyoming. In 2019, Wyoming had 17 reported synthetic opioid-involved overdose deaths among residents. In 2021 that number jumped to 42, and 17 deaths have been recorded in the first few months of 2022, according to the Wyoming Department of Health.
DCI data shows that the number of fentanyl cases among all law-enforcement agencies more than doubled between 2019 and 2021, rising from 15 to 38. Since 2020 there has been a 200 percent increase in the number of items containing suspected fentanyl that have been analyzed by the State Crime Lab.
As Bigfoot 99 reported last week, Wyoming was among the first states in the country to deploy a K-9 team to detect fentanyl.
