TYLER, Texas — Drug overdoses in the U.S. have changed over the course of the past two decades and fentanyl has become of growing concern for law enforcement.
"Fentanyl is the wildcat of – I like to say it’s the modern-day crack cocaine," Smith County Pct. 2 Justice of the Peace Andy Dunklin said.
"We know that our deaths have increased in fentanyl intoxication, and I don’t know where that ends," Dunklin said.
It’s not something new he has seen. Over the last 20 years, he’s seen the evolution of drug overdoses from the lens of law enforcement.
"Well pharmaceutical wise it was oxycontin and so people were misusing that with Percocet and other opioids where it had legitimate prescribers," Dunklin said.
Twenty years later, he said fentanyl isn’t just coming from prescribers anymore.
"They are being produced in clandestine laboratories in Mexico and they are getting their precursor chemicals from overseas in the Orient," Dunklin said.
Former border patrol agent Victor Avila says you don’t know what could be in these pills or how much dosage of fentanyl there actually is.
"Not even five years ago it's not the same anymore. I have teenagers I have a teenager son and a young daughter 22-year-old daughter, and I begged them don't you dare take any pills that do not come from a pharmacy because you're playing Russian roulette with your life," Avila said.
Dunklin said the best way to put a stop to the fentanyl crisis comes down to one thing: personal responsibility. Adding if people continue to consume the drugs, then the manufacturers and importers will continue to provide these dangerous drugs.
"People have to decided that they’re just not going to do it anymore," Dunklin said.