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The crisis behind Dallas County’s new opioid overdose prevention hotline

Dr. Menendez says the abuse of synthetic versions of opioids such as fentanyl contributed to a rise in deadly and non-fatal overdoses in Dallas County.
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Dr. Menendez says the abuse of synthetic versions of opioids such as fentanyl contributed to a rise in deadly and non-fatal overdoses in Dallas County.

Dallas County had more than 3,800 deadly or non-fatal opioid overdoses in 2023. That’s a 58% increase over 2018.

Numbers like that contributed to the recent launch of the county's opioid overdose prevention hotline: 214-590-4000

KERA’s Sam Baker talks with Dr. Anelle Menendez. She’s a Poison Control Specialist and Clinical Educator with the North Texas Poison Center, which will oversee the hotline.

The people on the phones are doctors and nurses. If someone is not feeling well, they can help by referring them to call 911 if they need to, etc..

That being said, the service itself is going to be just linking them to resources that will help them get started with their treatment, therefore prevent what could have been a possible overdose in the future.

There were more than 3,800 fatal and non-fatal overdoses last year, as I understand it, - a 58% increase over 2018. What has driven up those numbers? 

There are a lot of dirty and synthetic drugs out there. People think they're buying oxy or Xanax and, really, it's none of those. It's fentanyl, for example.

So are we talking mostly about teenagers that we were hearing so much about who've been buying these pills?

I've noticed there's no discrimination here. There are adults well into their 40s and 50s who are having that issue. And then there are kids as young as middle school, high school that are starting to dabble in just trying different drugs. And they think they're buying something from their friend and it's something synthetic. We are not seeing a rise anywhere specifically. It's affecting everyone.

You know, before we began hearing so much about fentanyl and the criminal activity surrounding it, the talk about opioids seemed to center around the use and abuse of prescription opioids.

That's how it started, right? You would have any surgical procedure done or trauma or anything and then end up on pain meds and that starts creating that addiction. The longer you are on those pain meds, the higher the risk of getting addicted to them. So it did start there. It's just evolved into a lot of fake pills.

As you know, prescribers started gearing away from the oxy code on the Percocet, the Vicodin, the things that we were normally seeing. Now we're just seeing a lot of people resort to the streets and getting dirty stuff.

Why? Is it hard to get? 

It's gotten a lot harder. Doctors have tightened down nationwide. They're changing how they're prescribing things.

What should people listening to this do or be mindful of to recognize an opioid problem? And what should they do after that?

Sometimes it's obvious. Sometimes it's just taken over their life. It's very obvious to see that everything they do revolves around this addiction and trying to get to this drug.

But other times it may be someone who is disappearing for a while and having their own time. And you talk to them sometimes and they're kind of slow or sometimes you talk to them and they're very irritable. Their personality just kind of changes depending on where they're at that day with their addiction. So it depends on the person and how they're exhibiting those behaviors.

Sometimes it can just be symptoms such as sweating, agitation, yawning. Sometimes the symptoms that we see with withdrawal are going to be very general and easy to miss.

The easiest to recognize is going to be changes in their personality and how your interaction with your loved ones are. And if you have any questions on whether what you're recognizing or seeing in that person is in fact withdrawal or signs of abuse, you can always call that hotline and the person answering the phone call will help you.

RESOURCES:

New Overdose Prevention Hotline Launches in Dallas County

DrugFacts
 
The Opioid Crisis

Sam Baker is KERA's senior editor and local host for Morning Edition. The native of Beaumont, Texas, also edits and produces radio commentaries and Vital Signs, a series that's part of the station's Breakthroughs initiative. He also was the longtime host of KERA 13’s Emmy Award-winning public affairs program On the Record. He also won an Emmy in 2008 for KERA’s Sharing the Power: A Voter’s Voice Special, and has earned honors from the Associated Press and the Public Radio News Directors Inc.