NEW ORLEANS — “Angel” and “Kano” live on the streets of New Orleans.
They see the deadly impact fentanyl is having on the community firsthand.
“A lot of people don’t know that they’re taking fentanyl,” Angel said. “They don’t even know what fentanyl is. It’s stronger than heroin, and it’s more addictive than heroin.”
“People will tell you they can ask for straight heroin, and they’re going to give you fentanyl because they don’t even know themselves,” Kano said.
“There are no more opiates on the street. It’s all Fentanyl now,” Angel added.
New Orleans police are investigating four unclassified deaths in 24 hours.
Three of them are near each other in the city's downriver neighborhoods.
Police suspect at least one of them may be drug-related.
The deaths come at a time when local addiction treatment provider, Odyssey House, is seeing an uptick in patients testing positive for fentanyl.
“Fentanyl is getting into other drugs, other street drugs other than those traditionally used by opioid users,” Odyssey House COO Amy Bosworth said.
Bosworth said that is particularly dangerous because one dose of fentanyl can kill you.
“We’ve had a lot of people and a lot of information come in about people who are traditionally cocaine users and they’re finding their cocaine is being laced with fentanyl. It’s really very dangerous.”
Unfortunately, users are willing to take the risk.
“At first, people care, but then it gets to a point where people are just trying, they start living 4 to 6 hours because every 4 to 6 hours they got to get this fix,” Kano said. “Every 4 to 6 hours, they have to figure out how to get the money to get that.”
Odyssey House recommends the city make fentanyl test strips and Narcan, a life-saving medication that can reverse an overdose, more available in the community and then conduct an outreach campaign to train people on how to use them.
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