Galveston County likely near top for fentanyl overdoses

Galveston County had the second highest number of drug overdose deaths in the state of Texas, roughly 200 per 100,000, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Orange County, which is just east of Beaumont and has a population of just 86,155, had the highest rate at 315 deaths per 100,000 in 2020, according to the department.

Kathryn Cunningham, director of the University of Texas Medical Branch’s Center for Addiction Research, said Galveston County and Texas are in a fentanyl crisis and there’s no clear evidence the problem is improving.

“Texas, which is the second most populous state in the country, has seen a 70 percent increase in overdoses between 2020 and 2022,” Cunningham said.

“If you look per capita, the overdose deaths here are more than Harris County,” she said, referring to Galveston County and noting the data was two years old.

Even Cunningham, a leading expert in drug addiction, can’t account for why two relatively small counties far from the border where fentanyl enters the country would be so high on the death-toll list.

What experts do know is fentanyl is a special problem for many reasons, including that it’s extremely potent, which makes it extremely unforgiving.

The synthetic opioid is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Two milligrams of fentanyl, which is equal to 15 grains of table salt, could be a lethal dose, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Pharmaceutical companies are among the root causes of the increased death rates, Cunningham said.

“Somewhere around the ’80s, companies wanted to make money, so they started courting physicians to mitigate their patients pain by using opioids,” she said.

Prescriptions for opioids have decreased significantly because of tightened federal regulations and rethinking about pain management among physicians in response to an epidemic of OxyContin addiction in the United States.

The drugs remain easily accessible on the street, however, Cunningham said.

In 2021, more than 107,300 people in the United States died of drug overdoses and drug poisonings, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. About 67 percent of the deaths, almost 72,000 people, involved synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, according to the DEA.

“One of the saddest things is that there are a lot of young people who are just trying to have fun and are just trying a new experience and they’re dying,” Cunningham said.

Most of the fentanyl ingredients are from China and are largely produced by Mexican cartels because it’s cheap and easy to make, Cunningham said.

The Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco Cartel in Mexico, which use chemicals largely sourced from China, are primarily responsible for the majority of the fentanyl being trafficked in the United States, according to the DEA.

“Unfortunately, I know quite a lot of people who have lost their brother, sister or children to fentanyl deaths,” Cunningham said. “One of the major problems right now is that there is a lot of stigma and bias when we talk about overdoses and deaths caused by fentanyl.”

There is a stigma that these deaths are strictly overdoses, Les McColgin, a recovering opioid addict and certified recovery specialist, said. Fentanyl is poison, and it’s killing people who never intended to take any amount of opioid drug, he said.

“One thing that’s important that we convey is that the people who are dying are kids,” McColgin said. “This is not just a bunch of heroin addicts or junkies under the bridge shooting up, these are kids. This is affecting everybody.”

Janice Stahl’s son, Travis Moy, died five months ago of an unintended fentanyl overdose, she said.

She carries her son’s ashes in a locket around her neck and a message about the dangers of fentanyl in her mind.

Moy, 40, a married father of two daughters, was at a bar in Katy when his drink was spiked with fentanyl, Stahl said.

He died quickly, she said.

“He never did drugs,” Stahl said. “He was at a pub and they spiked his drink and they left him to die.”

Stahl wants to be a voice for people who aren’t ready to speak up about a loved one’s death from fentanyl, she said.

She’s part of a fentanyl awareness Facebook group with 23,000 members called Lost Voices of Fentanyl, where she shares her memories of Travis and interacts with others suffering from similar experiences.

“He can’t talk anymore, so my voice is going to be heard,” Stahl said.

“I want to save someone else, I don’t want him to die in vain. If I can’t be his voice, somebody else is going to die.”

Stahl holds the urn necklace in her hands that reads: “Son: Always on my mind, forever in my heart.”

“I’ll never take this off because I’ll never get that hug around my neck,” Stahl said. “If I can save one person with my story, I’ve done good.”