We can do more for the opioid crisis

Eric Ortiz lives in the Wedge with his family. When he’s not community building, he’s the director of media for Big Edition and writes bilingual children’s books with his kids. Their first book, “How the Zookalex Saved the Village,” is available in English and Spanish.

We have a growing problem that not a lot people understand. Behaviors are happening on the streets and in schools that are unprecedented. Principals, teachers, and behavioral specialists can't explain it.

But there is an explanation.

I was talking to a veteran emergency room doctor the other day, and he told me that he is seeing things he has never seen before as a result of untreated traumatic stress, mental health, and fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid drug that is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.

People are falling through the cracks, and the downstream consequences of untreated traumatic stress and mental health, self-medicated with substances, and in the setting of fentanyl, are punitive unlike anything in history.

Opioids are not a new problem. Since 2022, over 150,000 people have died from fentanyl overdoses in the United States. A global network is behind this fentanyl crisis.

A Financial Times story in November 2023 explained how the supply chain works. 

"The 'precursor' chemicals used to make fentanyl are produced in nondescript factories in China and sold openly on the internet, sometimes for cryptocurrency. They are disguised by having their chemical signatures altered, or labelled as 'dog food' or 'motor oil' and shipped around the world. When they arrive in Mexico, they are cooked in the secret labs of cartels, where the product is tested on humans with sometimes fatal results. The final drug — often laced into counterfeit pills — is smuggled into the U.S. through tunnels, on trucks and airplanes, and in backpacks. It is sold on the street at extraordinary markups, where it has led to the deadliest drug crisis in the country’s history."

In April 2024, The Minnesota Star Tribune reported:

"In Minnesota and nationwide, the fentanyl epidemic has exploded in recent years into the most deadly drug epidemic in American history. In 2021, nationwide drug overdose deaths surpassed 100,000 for the first time, then climbed to nearly 110,000 in 2022, according to the CDC. The vast majority of those deaths were from synthetic opioids, mostly fentanyl. In the 2010s, around 300 to 400 Minnesotans died annually in opioid overdoses. That number has skyrocketed, with more than 1,000 Minnesotans dying from opioid overdoses in 2022, according to numbers from the Minnesota Department of Health. Roughly the same number of Minnesotans died from opioid overdoses between 2020 and 2022 as had died from opioid overdoses in the past eight years combined. Earlier this year saw what law enforcement called the biggest fentanyl bust in Minnesota history, where 280,000 pills were smuggled here inside stuffed animals."

In early July, Sahan Journal published the first article in a series investigating the racial disparities in Minnesota's opioid epidemic. Instead of documenting overdose deaths just by race (say, Black or Asian), they looked at five years of data to see if they could find patterns by community (such as Somali or Karen). Over seven months, they requested 240,000 death certificates from the Minnesota Department of Health and learned which communities suffer the most.

From 2019 to 2023, opioids have killed more than 4,000 people in Minnesota, and "Native Americans were at least 15 times more likely to die from opioid overdoses than white people. Somali Minnesotans were at least twice as likely to die from opioid overdose than their white counterparts. Latino Minnesotans were 1.5 times more likely to suffer fatal overdoses."

In-depth data helps communities gain a deeper understanding of the problem so they can help their community members. Research shows that culturally specific treatment is most effective.

As Sahan Journal reported: "If more people understood how opioids have devastated their people, according to Somali, Native American, and Southeast Asian leaders, communities could secure more funding and resources. Accurate data, they say, will convince people to pay attention and find solutions."

Opioid addiction is a reality many communities confront today. As community members deal with the impacts of substance use disorder, mitigating trauma for our children must be a central part of the conversation.

On Sept. 6, at the St. Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN), the Strong Mind Strong Body Foundation and Conversaciones de Salud at Carmen Robles and Associates LLC hosted a youth community journalism town hall conversation on solutions for the opioid crisis. 

Conversaciones de Salud has been leading a five-year effort to address the opioid crisis through an awareness campaign. This work has been supported by SPNN, Minnesota Department of Human Services, Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office, Suburban Ramsey Family Collaborative, Hue-Man Partnership, and a multitude of partners, supporters, and volunteers.  The show on Sept. 6 solidified the inclusion of youth and community journalism. The purpose of "Youth Community Journalism — Episode 2: 5 Years of Opioids Awareness With Conversaciones de Salud" program was to raise awareness, share stories, and discuss solutions to the opioid crisis.

Students, ages 9-15, from the Strong Mind Strong Body Foundation's Youth Community Journalism Institute led this important conversation with national experts, community leaders, and affected families. The conversation was in English and Spanish and showcased two mothers who lost their sons to fentanyl. 

"I would love a day where we don't have to have these conversations," said Bridgette Norring, whose 19-year-old son, Devin, died due to fentanyl poisoning in 2020. "But I'm honored to be here, and I thank you guys because I think you, the youth, the teens, the young adults, you guys are going to be a really big driving force in this."

More community engagement and education can save lives. We plan to do more. 

Watch the conversation on solutions for the opioid crisis at the Strong Mind Strong Body Foundation's YouTube channel. Contact Eric Ortiz at eric@strongmindstrongbody.org to get involved. Learn more about Conversaciones de Salud at issuu.com/conversacionesdesalud.

Eric Ortiz lives in the Wedge with his family. He is executive director of the Strong Mind Strong Body Foundation, a nonprofit youth and community development organization based in Minneapolis.