Fentanyl dealers say no to first-time users: 'I'm not about people falling out'
People who deal the drug fentanyl have begun to advise prospective buyers about overdose dangers.
Three fentanyl dealers interviewed for this story under the condition of anonymity all said they worry about people overdosing on the drug. “Nobody wants anyone to die,” said one dealer. He said he asks new customers if they have used fentanyl before. If they haven’t, he won’t sell to them.
He said the most danger lies in the use of fentanyl powder, which he said is purer than the blue pills containing fentanyl that people smoke off aluminum foil, also known as “blues.” All the drug dealers interviewed for this story said they almost always have Narcan, the opioid overdose antidote, at the ready.
“I am not about people falling out,” said one dealer.
According to the City and County of Denver website, “Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. Therefore, overdoses happen faster and are harder to stop. It comes in pills, pure powders, and powder mixed with other drugs. It cannot be seen, tasted, or smelled when mixed into other drugs.”
A building addicted to Fentanyl
Fentanyl use is rampant at Fusion Studios, where the author of this story lives. The putrid smell of burning blues often fills the hallways. “To save lives, we must raise awareness about the lethal effects of fentanyl while promoting strategies to reduce harm and mitigate risk,” says Robert McDonald, executive director of the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment and public health administrator for the city. “People who use illicit drugs in Denver are at a higher risk for fatal overdose than ever before. Opioid overdose deaths are preventable, and treatment for opioid use disorder is available.”
Social workers sometimes go door to door at Fusion and pass out Narcan and fentanyl testing strips. They encourage everyone not to use drugs alone. Signs posted around Fusion make the same recommendation.
Lisa Raville of Harm Reduction Action Center, which advocates for people who use drugs, said she’s not shocked to hear dealers’ concerns for their customers' lives. “I'm not surprised, people who sell drugs look out for people who use drugs all of the time.”
People I talked to for this story who use fentanyl say they wish they had never started. They don’t like discussing how dangerous the drug is, but they say they know they’re taking their life into their own hands every time they use it. Still, they say cravings are fierce. Two people I interviewed said their opioid addiction started with a prescription for painkillers.
People wanting drugs often will pound on doors at Fusion for hours, screaming for the dealer to answer. It can be disruptive. When they run out of money, people will trade everything from food stamps to a home-cooked meal, to a cell phone and everything in between for fentanyl.
Fentanyl crackdown by police
Police have begun to crack down on fentanyl dealers. Denver even created a special fentanyl unit with a $627,000 state grant. “The task force will utilize advanced equipment and techniques including but not limited to GPS trackers, aircraft surveillance, covert ‘pole’ cameras, confidential informants, undercover law enforcement operatives and other advanced investigative techniques,” according to at memo from city staff to the City Council. “(Denver Police Department) will also use high technology forensic equipment to identify illicit narcotics to aid in prosecution.”
Advocacy groups for drug users oppose laws that punish dealers who sell deadly fentanyl. That's because the laws make people afraid to call for help when an overdose occurs, they say. “As overdose rates continue to rise, policymakers in many jurisdictions have responded by harshly punishing those who sell or distribute drugs,” according to the Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates for people who use drugs. “One of the most egregious manifestations of this trend is the practice of charging a person who supplies the drugs involved in an overdose death with murder, or ‘drug-induced homicide.’ As of 2019, 20 states had statutes that create specific criminal penalties for the delivery of an illegal drug when the recipient dies as a result of ingesting the substance. State penalties vary from two years to capital punishment, while six states – Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and West Virginia – set the minimum penalty as life in prison. The federal law includes a penalty of 20 years to life.”
The dealers interviewed for this story say they never would have started dealing if it weren’t for their own habits. They said they only make enough money selling drugs to pay for their own supply. The author reached out by email to the Denver Police Department last month with questions about fentanyl dealers but has not received a response.
Fentanyl dealers charged with homicide
Lisa Raville, director of the Harm Reduction Action Center in Denver, an advocacy group for people who use drugs, said she was not shocked to hear fentanyl distributors are giving consultations and not selling to beginners. “People who sell drugs look out for people who use drugs all of the time.”
“Blues” have ravaged the homeless and formerly homeless communities. People routinely overdose at Fusion.
Rumors swirl when a death occurs, fentanyl users interviewed for this story said under the condition of anonymity. Everyone wants to know who was with a person who overdoses when it happens, they explained. The police have been at Fusion interrogating people after overdoses occur, they said. “Drug-induced homicide prosecutions increased dramatically between 2011 and 2016, according to the Drug Policy Alliance. “Although data on the precise number of people being prosecuted under these laws are unavailable, (the Alliance’s) 2017 report ‘An Overdose Death Is Not Murder: Why Drug-Induced Homicide Laws Are Counterproductive and Inhumane’ tracks media mentions of drug-induced homicide prosecutions as a proxy for actual prosecutions. In 2011, there were 363 news articles about individuals being prosecuted for drug-induced homicide; in 2016 there were 1,178, an increase of over 300%.”
One drug dealer said he once sold the powerful “China White” opioid to five people. All five overdosed but were brought back to life with Narcan, he said. He said he hasn’t sold opioids since.
Low-level offenders more likely to be busted
According to the Drug Policy Alliance, “Drug-induced homicide prosecutions unjustly intensify the criminalization of low-level sellers and sharers of drugs, sending them to prison while still grieving their deceased loved ones. This approach perpetuates the idea that sellers cause people to use drugs and are responsible for associated consequences. It also reinforces the myth that supply-side enforcement will reduce drug use, while discouraging people from calling for help at the scene of an overdose. Drug-induced homicide laws allow policymakers and law enforcement to feel like they are making a difference, when in reality they are doing nothing at all to keep people who use drugs safe.”
But perhaps the homicide law has made things safer. If a dealer refuses to sell fentanyl to a new user, that’s one less person who becomes hooked. Between their own consciences and the homicide law, fentanyl dealers have plenty to think about.
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