Fentanyl sounds so 2022, but don't be fooled by the relative lack of attention it receives today. Colorado officials say the deadly synthetic opioid continues crossing the country's southern border and killing people statewide and throughout the country.

El Paso County Coroner Leon Kelly, a medical doctor and forensic pathologist for Colorado's most populous county, wants the public to know that a decrease in the rate of increase in fentanyl deaths should not be confused with an overall reduction. After all, we can get a 100% increase by going from 1 to 2. As numbers grow, the "rate of increase" slows even as the carnage rises.

"Last year was the worst year we've ever had, but the five previous years we had doubled fentanyl deaths every year," Kelly said, regarding El Paso County.

From Jan. 1 through June 15, 70 people overdosed in El Paso County. More than half, or 41 cases, were due to fentanyl. That compares to 72 overdoses in the same period last year, of which 39 were caused by fentanyl.

Things are worse in Denver, Colorado's largest city and second-most populous county. The Denver Department of Public Health and Environment reports 228 overdoses in the first half of 2023. Of those, 146 involved fentanyl — a whopping 16% increase over the same period last year, when Denver lost 238 people to fentanyl.

"Fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered," explains Anne Milgram, administrator of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration on the agency's website. "Fentanyl is everywhere. From large metropolitan areas to rural America, no community is safe from this poison. We must take every opportunity to spread the word to prevent fentanyl-related overdose death and poisonings from claiming scores of American lives every day."

We can and should focus public policy on reducing suicide, drunk driving, car crashes, homicide, guns, cancer or other diseases. The fact remains: of all deaths in the United States of people under 50, fentanyl is involved more than any other cause. Yes, that should make it a high priority.

Our federal government could and should curtail the flow of fentanyl coming into our country. It is a matter knowing who and what comes and goes from the United States — a regulatory role the federal government is supposed to conduct on behalf of states.

We all know Congress and President Joe Biden — like most of Washington before them — cannot and/or will not provide serious protection at our border. The humanitarian border crisis and the toll it takes on U.S. citizens and residents may serve as our county's greatest symbol of federal ineptitude.

Local law enforcement agencies do all they can to address the fentanyl overdose crisis, but there's not much they can do about a cheap, easy-to-access drug that kills in miniscule doses.

Unless and until we can stop this lethal attack on our country — one that kills like a daily 747 plane crash — we must help each other. That means parents, teachers, coaches, siblings, clergy, friends and mentors talking and warning about this scourge. Tell teenagers just one shared pill — by any name, from any person — can kill almost instantly. The poison can be laced in heroin, cocaine and other illicit drugs.

No one is immune from this danger. Colorado has lost teenagers, young children and babies to this poison because of accidental ingestion.

Word-of-mouth education and awareness could go a long way toward avoiding the additional overdoses, but we should also prepare like we do for fires. Caught early, we can douse fires with extinguishers. Similarly, nearly anyone can save the life of an early overdose subject by administering the drug naloxone.

The Denver Department of Public Health and Environment advises drug users to designate one person to remain sober so they can administer naloxone, perform rescue breathing or call 911 if someone appears to be overdosing. Free naloxone is available at StoptheClockColorado.org, and at hundreds of pharmacies throughout Colorado.

Fentanyl is rampant in our communities, probably to stay. We cannot become jaded or convince ourselves this is a post-pandemic thing of the past. Ask the coroner. This menace is alive and well, and on a mission to kill.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For more information on fentanyl and the reversal drug, naloxone, visit: whatisourplan.org

REPRINTED FROM THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE

Photo credit: Mayron Oliveira at Unsplash