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Fentanyl abuse is remaining a major concern in the local area for McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy.

According to information from the McMinn County Sheriff’s Department, the 10th Judicial Drug Task Force seized 1,262 dosage units of Fentanyl in 2021, 14,084 dosage units in 2022 and currently 8,655 dosage units between the months of January and May of this year.

The numbers reflect all seized materials across the entire district, which covers McMinn, Monroe, Polk and Bradley counties.

“While these numbers don’t specifically reflect just McMinn County, I feel confident in these numbers because somebody may go to Bradley County and then come here to sell or wind up overdosing and vice-versa,” Guy said. “While these numbers may reflect four counties, we all are a part of that and it is the same problem.”

Between Jan. 1 and May 4 of this year, the 10th Judicial Drug Task Force has reported 8,605 fentanyl pills/tablets have been seized as well as 50 grams of fentanyl powder.

One of the biggest dangers to Fentanyl is the inability of the average person to distinguish it from other substances.

“Never trust anything that isn’t from a pharmacy in today’s world. You can’t trade a pill or get a pill from a friend or family member or buy something from somebody,” Guy expressed. “You can’t trust it anymore. Our community is flooded with Fentanyl as well as pills and marijuana laced with fentanyl. In fact, the marijuana we used to see is not the marijuana we see today ... you can’t trust anything, especially since the pills look identical to a pill you can get from a pharmacist. So the one thing we are trying to get people to understand is one pill can kill.”

Drug Task Force Director Bill Cherry also issued advice to parents, friends and loved ones of individuals who have a history of Fentanyl abuse.

“People need to understand how sick these people become trying to get off it,” Cherry said. “Just because someone wants to get off of it and are trying to treat their addiction when the withdrawal symptoms hit, that is when they will need the most help and the most observation. It is physically really hard on them to go through the withdrawals and it happens very quickly.”

According to Cherry, the majority of the people who have faced an overdose have been people who have intentionally sought after the drug.

“From my experience, it has been people who knew what they were getting,” he noted. “There has been accidental overdoses. The sad part is there have been people who are addicted to their own pain medication and they seek out Fentanyl thinking it will be better, but they aren’t used to it and tend to overdose. But the majority tend to be drug seekers from what we have worked.”

Cherry noted some of the signs that a person who is abusing Fentanyl would exhibit.

“We call it the nods. They have a hard time paying attention, they will literally be talking to you then start to fall asleep ... It’s almost like an extremely intoxicated person,” he stated. “Opiates are a downer so they have a hard time staying awake. This is by far the most dangerous drug I have ever had to deal with in law enforcement and I feel very sad and sorry for the people who are going through all of the addiction. It is horrible on that person and it is very hard to get off of it without a support group. Supporting someone has to mean getting them to stop so they don’t end up dead or incarcerated. There has to be help getting off of this stuff and not many people can stop doing it on their own.”

Guy hopes to spread as much information and awareness about Fentanyl as possible to keep the public informed about the dangers of the substance.

“This is probably the worst thing that we have ever seen,” Guy expressed. “It’s devastating. It is a violent addiction and it makes people so desperate and so sick that they will do almost anything. There is a new treatment out there, Vivitrol, we are actually working with a program now to administer to inmates who volunteer. It is a shot that works against their desire to want the substance and then there is treatment (addiction counseling) so you don’t take the Vivitrol anymore, unlike other treatments, so we are hopeful more things like this will come around the corner.”

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