The death of Lubbock resident Jameson Hess, 20, after overdosing on the powerful narcotic Fentanyl, is just one of several being investigated by local and federal law enforcement. Fentanyl is infiltrating the South Plains, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency.
“I am so scared. I can’t even believe there’s something that potent out there,” Jameson’s mother, Jennifer Hess, told KXAS. “He barely had a pulse. They tried to resuscitate him for several hours. He was pronounced dead at 5:58 a.m.”
Hess, a Colleyville native, died September 9, in Lubbock.
Lubbock County Medical Examiner Dr. Sridhar Natarajan performed the autopsy. He told EverythingLubbock.com his office has seen an increase in Fentanyl-related deaths since February.
“This has now become a major concern. It’s a public health issue, and it’s at a point where major organizations or agencies are being very active and aggressive in seeing how they can control or stop this from taking place,” Natarajan explained.
He said that between January 2014 and February 2016, toxicology results showed four cases of Fentanyl overdoses. He added that since then, he has worked “potentially 6 cases” in the “past few months.”
“We have 4 since June,” he stated. “If you just think of the numbers, they’ve dramatically gone up, and the age group we’re talking about is in the 20s and 30s.”
Natarajan said his office was continued to work with D.E.A. and local law enforcement on investigations related to Fentanyl.
“It has infiltrated the West Texas area, and once agencies are sitting down and talking to each other like the D.E.A. that we’re well aware that it’s a very significant issue,” Natarajan explained.
D.E.A. spokesperson Russell Baer said it was “premature to link” any South Plains deaths to the October 27 drug bust, but explained that federal investigators are aware of Hess’ case, and acknowledged that there were others. Baer could not say exactly how many deaths being considered by investigators.
He said agents at the local and federal levels were looking into “how it happened and who may be responsible.”
Dr. Juan Fitz, with Covenant Health, stated that more college-aged individuals are coming into the emergency room for treatment.
“Unfortunately we have an opioid problem in the United States. Heroin has gone up. The reason it’s gone up, because there is more control from the government, and physicians ordering narcotics for painkillers. So now they’re looking for other sources,” Fitz explained.
“Problem is that Fentanyl [is] 10 times stronger than the heroin, so you don’t know how to ingest is properly. So, what happens is they become overdosed,” said Fitz.
Fitz added that though they’re mostly younger people, he has seen overdose patients of all ages.
“Basically high school kids, 17 years old, into the 60s and 70s,” he said. “We are seeing it more commonly unfortunately, in the younger age, but there’s a big spectrum.”
“We see that it’s escalating, and we’re not going to be surprised if we see more of these deaths taking place in a short period of time,” Natarajan added.
Natarajan said dealers are constantly changing the chemical makeup of the drug in order to keep it under the radar from authorities.
“It’s being brought in in a way where D.E.A. and other agencies like ours are trying to identify the molecular structure that’s being changed to avoid detection,” he explained.
“We’ve noticed this increase has occurred, we’re all sitting at the table together to try to resolve it,” Natarajan stated. “Some of these very quick decisions that young adults can make about what they’re thinking is exciting or may provide some source of entertainment or escape, that it can be their last day.”
