NASHVILLE (BP) – A Google search for “fentanyl overdose” reveals recent stories of the deaths of three middle-aged Texans, a teen in California and a toddler in South Carolina.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin and 100 times more powerful than morphine. Overdoses have become commonplace around the country.
“Fentanyl can be put into anything,” said Troy Young, church outreach coordinator for Isaiah House, an evangelical drug addiction treatment facility in Harrodsburg, Ky.
“It can be pressed into pills or put into cocaine. First-time drug users could be introduced to fentanyl and not even know it. That is why we’re seeing so many overdoses.”
He told Baptist Press fentanyl use has spiked in the last five years because of the various forms it can take.
“We serviced more than 3,400 people in our facilities last year, and we’d love to actually see the number of people that we’re serving go down, but with the rise of fentanyl in our communities it continues to go up,” Young said.
Research supports his observations, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says fentanyl is a major contributing factor in overdoses across the nation. Data indicates more than 80,000 people died from an opioid overdose in 2021, an increase from just over 70,000 in 2020.
The drug is so potent even first-time exposure through touch can be lethal.
The widespread availability of fentanyl has caused danger even for minors, who can make unsupervised connections with other people on social media.
Media reports warn parents of fentanyl-laced folded dollar bills left on the ground, which have caused accidental overdoses for unsuspecting people who pick them up.
Yahoo! recently reported a group of parents is suing the social media platform Snapchat saying that children and young adults purchased fentanyl-laced drugs from dealers using on the app.
Young said churches have started to take notice of the epidemic, and are reaching out to Isaiah House for help.
“We have churches that want to help, but just don’t know how,” Young said.
Ultimately, Isaiah house believes the local church is the ideal place to experience spiritual change.
“What we want to do is equip the churches to be able to help because it’s in every church and every county,” Young said.
“We believe recovery starts with a relationship with Jesus Christ, and our clients who want to find a church, we will help plug them into a somewhere they will call home. This way, the spiritual habits that are created during treatment can be carried on after treatment. We try to find ‘recovery friendly’ churches where we know they will be loved and cared for.If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction, you can explore your treatment options at https://www.recoverydelivered.com/2022/12/14/benefits-of-long-term-suboxone-treatment/.
“The time they will be outside of Isaiah House is a lot longer than the time they will have in it. That’s why the local church is so important as a place that they will be discipled and mentored. We view the church as a very vital partner in this journey of recovery.”
