The Fentanyl Epidemic - by Benjamin R. Stockton
Deaths from Fentanyl and stimulants mixed with fentanyl increased 276% from January 2019 (2.9%) to June 2022 (10.9%). This was 68% of the reported 107,081 drug overdose deaths in 2022 according to the CDC, and in which group younger people are overrepresented. I’m not writing to reconcile those statistics but rather to show the sheer scale of this epidemic. Compare this to car accident fatalities nationwide, estimated to be 42,939 in 2022, and in which younger people are overrepresented. More than double the number of deaths from “recreational” drugs than from horrific traffic accidents!
My niece Berlynn Dellenvine Stockton passed away on October 3rd this year, a few weeks short of her 21st birthday. She had the names of 3 of her childhood friends tattooed on her body in memory of their drug deaths, and yet she was a user. Though she was beautiful, gracious, popular and well-loved, she “needed” the drugs. At the age of 8 years old Berlynn had been attacked by a neighbor’s dog and ended up having 5 years of surgeries and rehabilitation as a result. Her doctors introduced her to the effects of pain-killing medications. A couple of years later, Berlynn was diagnosed as suffering from PTSD and was prescribed Xanax and other drugs to help her with anxiety. At the time of her death Berlynn was still on 5 prescriptions, including Xanax and Vraylar.
The thing about Berlynn’s death that is hardest to accept is to remember how much she was aware of the dangers of drug use, how hard she tried to escape its clutches, and how close she came to making her way out of the death spiral. She overdosed within a few hours of having volunteered to enter a rehabilitation facility. Her bed was reserved and her counselor had been assigned. Though those of us closest to Berlynn can reflect on slight missteps and oversights that we made, Berlynn herself made the tragic misjudgment on the eve of her scheduled intervention.
Berlynn was a highly accomplished young woman. In school, in spite of lingering effects of her injuries, she had made varsity in women’s softball as a freshman. She went on to have an outstanding career in sports during her 4 years in school. As she grew up, she went to community college and took up physical fitness as her main sport. Berlynn was also a boxer and a bikini model. She ended up winning blue ribbons and other medals in two national bikini fitness competitions. She had plans to go back to school in pursuit of a career in psychology or counselling. She knew first hand what friends and acquaintances in her cohort were going through in the rampant drug culture of her generation, and she wanted to help.
Berlynn succeeded in her chosen pursuits due to her intelligence, ambition, work ethic and ability to focus. Berlynn was very goal oriented. In her last competitive outing in September this year she went from a semi-retired status to winning 5 fitness medals in only 6 weeks! But the same personality traits that made her a success in her pursuits also made her a formidable agent if you tried to stop her when she made up her mind to get some drugs. That girl could outthink you, deceive you, find a way when you thought you had blocked all the ways!
The power that illicit, and even prescribed, drugs have over a person is truly frightening. In spite of having reached a difficult decision to de-tox, and having made arrangements to enter a rehab program, Berlynn expressed that she felt she needed one more high before getting clean. In those last 72 hours before her death, she exerted the full force of her estimable intelligence and drive to get some drugs. She succeeded of course, in spite of family and friends conspiring to keep her away from sources.
It is well known in medical circles that a sudden withdrawal of drugs from an addict can have severe consequences. Berlynn was intent on getting some drugs, and we were intent of preventing that. Berlynn’s behavior was always oriented around using too much of her chosen drug. She always told people that she didn’t even feel the effects of large doses. In the days before her death, in her burning desire to get high one last time before going into rehab, the family believes that she had gotten access to drugs laced with fentanyl and had taken larges doses. We also suspect that we might have succeeded in blocking her access to even more, and that maybe the withdrawal symptoms are what finally took her from us. We can never know for sure.
The laws in this country largely protect drug addicts from being restrained in rehabilitation programs against their will. They might be entered into a program or a hospital emergency room while they are in the throes of their intoxication, but the moment they can represent to medical personnel that they are sober, they can check themselves out. Berlynn had been put in emergency rooms several times, administered Narcan at home, and had even entered a detox program at one point under her fathers supervision. But she checked herself out again as soon as she could.
The addicts can get their phones back and call their suppliers to bring more drugs to them at curbside. Ride-share services will pick them up and take them where they want to go. The family, even a parent or a spouse, is powerless to keep that person in a life saving program if they don’t want to be there. This situation needs to change even at the risk of limiting a person’s right to freedom. Something as straight-forward as laws requiring a minimum holding time for intoxicated persons would be a big step in the right direction.
An overnight hold, as most police departments can invoke, is not enough. I don’t think 72 hours would be enough either. I would suggest that laws could require up to 5 days holding time for an intoxicated person, and the same law must prohibit employers or schools from taking punitive actions against persons in that circumstance. As much as we need stronger laws against the transportation and selling of toxic drugs, we don’t need to criminalize the poor addict for finally getting some help.
Our darling Berlynn Dellenvine Stockton, died 3 October 2023, may she rest in peace. May we, the still living, learn something from her sad demise and take steps to protect our remaining loved ones from rampant willful killing by the legal and illegal drug industries.
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