(Atlantic, Iowa) – Iowa 3rd District Republican Congressman Zach Nunn hosted an informational session on Opiods at Cass Health in Atlantic, this (Friday) morning. The event was attended by more than fifty members of the Cass County community. Panelists included Atlantic Police Chief Devin Hogue, Decatur County Sheriff Chris Lane, representatives from the Office of the Iowa Attorney General, Cass County Chief Medical Director Elaine Barry, Atlantic Mayor Grace Garrett, and Deric Kidd, who lost his son to fentanyl.

He was joined by representatives from the law enforcement community, medical professionals, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office and others, in sharing the best practices and develop new approaches to help combat the opiod crisis in rural Iowa.

Nunn said he just returned from the Yuma, Arizona border crossing. He said many of the drugs — such as fentanyl that are made in China – make their way into the U-S through Mexico. He said [the] “Opiod crisis impacts every community. As a parent, as a family member, as a kid, you know, it is the number one leading cause of death…fentanyl… from folks my age down to my daughter’s friends age. And this is a very dangerous thing that is hurting our communities.”

Photo’s courtesy of Zach Nunn’s office

Speaking of developments on the federal level, Nunn said the medical prevention act was passed, so that Naloxone  (Narcan) a nasal spray that helps to reverse the effects of a fentanyl overdose – can be made readily available to families, communities and school districts. More than 70-thousand drug overdose deaths that occurred in 2021, were attributed to synthetic opiods other than methadone – primarily fentanyl, which is the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18-and 45.

Among the panelists who spoke at the event, was Cass Health Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Elaine Berry, who also serves as Cass County Medical Examiner. She’s been with the hospital for more than 35-years. Dr. Berry said most of the overdose deaths are due to stimulants, such as methamphetamine, or fentanyl. What makes fentanyl the greater threat, she said, is that it is cheaper to make compared to other drugs. She said it’s a huge threat for an overdose, because “Very, very tiny amounts are extremely powerful. Just a little tiny crystal of it can cause an overdose,” which can cause a person to stop breathing.

Iowa Department of Public Safety Special Agent, in charge of the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Michael Mittan, showed pictures of fake fentanyl (M-33), which looks like candy, and can come in a rainbow color pill, making it attractive to kids, who might mistake it for something good to eat. He said in 2019, Iowa DCI lab cases dealt with 34 grams in 2019. As of 2023, that increased to 9,000 grams. In addition to pills, fentanyl can come in a powdered form, as is the case with the drug which was seized in Council Bluffs. The drug is also being mixed with other substances, such as cocaine or Zylazene (A livestock tranquilizer). Fentanyl deaths, he said, will be treated as as homicide, if the person or persons responsible for its trafficking, can be identified.

Atlantic Police Chief Devin Hogue spoke at the event, about the effects of fentanyl on the local level. He said in Atlantic and neighboring communities, there have been at least two deaths associated with the drug. Five people have been prosecuted and sentenced to federal prison for their roles in the deaths. He said those people sold the drug, “to feed their own habit.”

Decatur County Sheriff Chris Lane explained what he’s noticed over the past two-years: an increase in overdoses and an increase in fatal overdoses. Narcan was administered numerous times over the past couple of years. Meth and Marijuana are also prevalent drugs in his county, with fentanyl cut into the mix. He said pill bottles with opiods are also being found more and more. Sheriff Lane said they have not seen a lot of counterfeit pills in his county, but the DNE recently stopped a vehicle in on Interstate 35 in Decatur County, and seized 30,000 pills. He said the effects of meth mixed-in with fentanyl make people go  “Completely out of their mind for a month, for upwards of a month or longer…we are absolutely convinced that a few people will never return to their normal behavior,” whereas before, with the use of meth alone, they would recover within about a week.

He cited a case in one of the small towns in his county where a man was running through town with a machete and screaming at people who weren’t there. The man stood 6-feet 5-inches tall, and weighed more than 300-pounds. As he cowered on the floorboard of the patrol car, he begged the Sheriff to protect him from the whatever he was seeing and “voices he was hearing.”

Deric Kidd spoke about the loss in July, 2021, of his 17-year-old son Sebastian Alexander Kidd. Sebastian took half a pill before bed he thought was percocet. He was unaware he had actually taken a counterfeit pill laced with a lethal dose of fentanyl. He said “This crisis transcends a mere drug problem. It signifies a deeper societal despair. Our mental health epidemic fueled by grief, trauma and depression, demands urgent dialogue.” He said tearfully, “Two weeks ago, a fellow parent in one of our advocacy groups took her own life. She could no longer bear the loss of her son.” The next victim, he said, “could be someone you love.” The discussion about the risks of fentanyl and other drugs, he added, must be prioritized in our schools and communities, “treating it with the urgency of an epidemic. We cannot afford to revisit this conversation in the future without tangible progress.”

The final speaker at Friday’s event in Atlantic, was William Pearson, Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection Division of the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. One of the areas of focus he covers is opiods. The Iowa Consumer Fraud Act, he said, has allowed the State to reach settlements with prescription (legal) drug major drug manufacturers of opiod painkillers (such as Oxycontin, Oxycodone and Hydrocodone). The settlement also includes the distributors and big chain pharmacies, and amounts to almost $300-million over the next 15-to 18-years into Iowa, for opiod remediation, including: treatment; education; and harm reduction (Including Naloxone).

Congressman Nunn concluded the event by saying more has to be done at the strategic level, to control and push back against the production of synthetic drugs in China and Mexico, because it “Is a true national security threat.”