How Alaska became one of fentanyl’s deadliest frontiers

An inflow of fentanyl into Alaska within the final two years has vexed regulation enforcement, overwhelmed well being methods and deeply affected struggling Native communities. 

In 2020 and 2021, the artificial opioid was a significant contributor in a spike in overdoses – the nation’s largest, in keeping with Alaska’s public well being division. In 2021, overdose deaths jumped by 74% in a single yr, with fentanyl deaths spiking by 150%, the report mentioned. 

Drug traffickers have carved out a profitable marketplace for artificial medication like methamphetamine and fentanyl in Alaska, since they will extract greater revenue margins in a distant area.

Fentanyl has grow to be a nationwide disaster lately, however Alaska faces distinctive challenges as a consequence of its location, measurement and restricted regulation enforcement assets, Alaska’s Excessive Depth Drug Trafficking Space program mentioned in its annual report back to Congress. 

In the summertime of 2022, Alaska regulation enforcement seized almost 2.5 million doses of fentanyl, HIDTA mentioned. 

Alaska has the nation’s largest proportion of its inhabitants which identifies as American Indian and Alaska Native at 19.6 p.c. And it’s these teams – who’ve lengthy struggled with systemic lack of assets, trauma and substance abuse – which can be being hit the toughest by the fentanyl scourge: For Alaska Natives and American Indians, the 2021 overdose charge was 77.7 per 100,000 folks, in comparison with a 2021 charge of 28.8 for White Alaskans.

Alaska officers battle with intercepting shipments of fentanyl – which is generally produced in Mexico – since massive swathes of the state are solely accessible by smaller boats and airplanes that assist the drug attain locations undetected. 

And whereas an opioid capsule can price $2 in Arizona and lots of different components of the contiguous U.S., the identical capsule can promote for $40 in Alaska. Costs can differ extensively even inside the state, relying on the situation: in Anchorage, one dosage unit of fentanyl prices $15, whereas in Bethel, the hub for 56 villages within the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, (400 miles away from Anchorage) one dose can price $100, in keeping with the 2022 Alaska Annual Drug Report launched in January. 

“We’re probably the most flying state within the union,” Lt. Paul Wegrzyn, deputy commander of the Alaska State Troopers’ drug enforcement unit, informed CBS Information. “Individuals suppose nothing of hopping on a aircraft. There may be air journey taking place all hours and all day and night time. It creates a problem to trace medication coming into these villages.”

The Biden administration has stepped up federal efforts to disrupt the circulate of fentanyl into the nation. However at the same time as regulation enforcement efforts enhance, authorities businesses have recognized racial and sophistication disparities in prevention and dependancy remedy providers.

In Alaska, the consequences of fentanyl on the Native inhabitants are being felt throughout the state. Throughout the pandemic from 2019-2020, overdose deaths elevated by greater than 40% for Native Alaskans, in keeping with CDC knowledge. 

“Most individuals who died by overdose had no proof of substance use remedy earlier than their deaths,” in keeping with a CDC report. “In reality, a decrease proportion of individuals from racial and ethnic minority teams acquired remedy, in contrast with White folks.”

Stevi Rae Angasan, 38, was born and raised in Naknek, a fishing village on the northeast aspect of Bristol Bay. Simply up to now yr, she has seen two overdose deaths in her neighborhood of fewer than 800 folks unfold amongst three tribal villages: Naknek, South Naknek and King Salmon. 

Angasan, a member of the Naknek tribe, mentioned she has struggled with dependancy since highschool. She married at 18, had a daughter at 19, and labored within the fishing trade. After the season ended, Angasan would spend all her cash on heroin till there was nothing left. 

Angasan, who now works as an administrative assistant on the Naknek Native Village Council and has been sober for 5 years, mentioned she was grateful fentanyl wasn’t round when she was hooked on medication. 

Immediately, she sees “nothing however accessibility.” She mentioned the issue is compounded by an absence of assets to struggle again. Alaskan tribal courts have prosecuted drug sellers promoting fentanyl and different opioids, however most communities depend on regulation enforcement a whole lot of miles from their properties. 

And there are not any suboxone or methadone clinics to deal with dependancy in her space, Angasan mentioned.  

There are solely seven remedy clinics in Alaska, in keeping with a spokeswoman on the State Opioid Therapy Authority.  There are three clinics in Anchorage, one in Fairbanks, one in Wasilla, one in Juneau, and one in Sitka. She added that there are plans to open one within the fall of 2023 on Prince of Wales Island. 

The Biden administration says it’s investing in overdose and dependancy efforts; $1.5 billion is being distributed all through all states for opioid and dependancy points, with $104 million to increase substance abuse prevention in rural communities. In 2021, the CDC invested $13 million to help in drug overdose prevention in tribal communities. 

Angasan says the assets are urgently wanted. 

“The neighborhood is at a standstill,” she mentioned. “We ask ‘what are we going to do?’”