In Harris County, due to the availability and presence of the drug, manufactured fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, has become increasingly problematic in Houston. Specifically, drug enforcement data shows that fentanyl has become alarmingly sought after in the illicit drug market of Houston.
This trend, along with the increasing number of fentanyl-related incidents, which include lethal overdoses and deaths, has plagued the city in 2023. Primarily manufactured illegally, many local dealers distribute this exceptionally potent drug, manufactured fentanyl, and it is causing alarmingly hazardous conditions throughout Houston, endangering public health and safety, data from Harris County shows.
The Impact of Fentanyl Overdoses in Houston in 2023
Due to a sharp increase of heroin and manufactured fentanyl overdoses throughout Houston and its surrounding areas in Harris County, there is now a major public health emergency as of 2023.
As has recently been proven by data from the Houston Health Department being compared to certain increase in fentanyl-related deaths, not only is this a rising case, but it has become increasingly fatal for members of the community.
With manufactured fentanyl being made alarmingly available within the city limits of Harris County, I agree with the measures being taken in response to the rapid increase of lethal overdoses.
With an alarming rate of overdose deaths, local authorities are battling the fentanyl epidemic to the best of their abilities in order to put a halt to this kind of loss.
In an effort to apprise a wider audience about the lethality of fentanyl, especially fake pills, treatment options and strategies for preventing overdoses continue to improve in 2023.
The ongoing fentanyl crisis, particularly the surge in deaths due to manufactured fentanyl and fake pills, occurring in Houston and Harris County is very disturbing.
How did it get to where it is today? How has it affected the people in high school or around high school-aged students?
And data shows the heart-wrenching impact fentanyl overdoses have on families and the entire Houston community.
And what is going on in Houston to protect the people?
The Houston Health Department data shows that this overdose or lethal situation needs immediate intervention in 2023. It is causing harm to numerous individuals around us in Houston, disrupting life across the city in the wake of the rising deaths in Texas.
People have reached a point where they predict a further rise in overdoses if this drug, including manufactured fentanyl and fake pills, continues to be sold on Houston’s streets and in schools.
By examining and treating the root causes of fentanyl abuse and implementing further education and prevention initiatives, the city hopes to eventually achieve a more safe and prosperous environment for its citizens.
Another objective is to improve the availability of essential resources to high-risk individuals who face the burdens of addiction on a daily basis.
To visualize the severity of this crisis, watch the video below:
Understanding the Fentanyl Epidemic
As a direct result of the city’s fentanyl epidemic, fentanyl overdoses in Houston have been on the rise.
The increased availability of the potent opiate in urban areas has caused more widespread use, which may increase the risk of fatal overdose.
Additionally, fentanyl, a synthetic opiate almost 100 times more powerful than heroin or morphine and often mixed with other drugs, is also causing great concern as users are ignorant to when it is added to the drug that they are ingesting, again many more deaths and overdoses are being reported involving fentanyl.
They add different illicit substances similar to cocaine or even heroin that the person taking doesn’t even know what’s all in it.
This presents a unique danger because people can die more quickly.
Traditional and typical naloxone-reversing overdoses are getting more complex because of how potent Fentanyl is. That is very bad for police officers because they always try to save the person. It only takes a small amount of fentanyl to overdose on it. Different fentanyl drugs are up to fifty to a hundred times stronger than heroin. It is very dangerous for police officers because there can be other types of fentanyl in it.
The seriousness and danger of the fentanyl problem in Houston warrants putting aside jurisdictional squabbles and territorialism between the local and federal law enforcement agencies, both of which have powers of intervention, thus bearing the burden of extra work.
Combatting the Fentanyl Crisis in Houston
The fentanyl problem in Houston is being taken very seriously by some organizations and treatment centers throughout the area. Virtue Recovery Center Houston is a treatment facility that is currently offering a wide range of treatment programs for those who are specifically addicted to Fentanyl and is located in the heart of Houston.
Virtue Recovery Center Houston is committed to offering a unique and highly individualized addiction treatment program that includes a combination of medical and clinically therapeutic interventions to address both the physical and psychological side effects of addiction.
Treating Fentanyl Addiction, the team at Virtue Recovery Center Houston can help you overcome your addiction to a Fentanyl supply. They will create an all-encompassing treatment program that will include detoxification relapse prevention using science-backed techniques, and coping skills in order.
Virtue Recovery Center Houston ensures each patient is treated with a unique and personalized treatment plan aimed at relieving the addiction to enable long-term recovery.
“Our goal is to provide compassionate care and evidence-based treatments to those battling fentanyl addiction,” says Dr. Michael Schwartz, the lead addiction specialist at Virtue Recovery Center. “We understand the complexity of this crisis and are committed to helping individuals reclaim their lives and achieve long-term sobriety.”
Virtue Recovery Center Houston’s drug treatment programs also have a strong reach into the community they build programs around, like their “Dangers of Fentanyl” outreach.
What they do here is educate the community about what fentanyl is, its effects, and what they could do if they suspect someone is using that dangerous substance.
So, all these initiatives are community-based. Virtue Recovery Center Houston loves serving and giving back to the community.
These programs extend from educational workshops to public awareness campaigns and partnerships with local schools and community organizations. Virtue Recovery Center Houston is truly leading the charge in the Houston community again as the city continues to grapple with the fentanyl crisis.
Virtue Recovery Center Houston is here to provide an essential first line of support and treatment to those caught up in the grip of the deadly opiate. Whether through comprehensive programs or community partnerships, they are making progress to fight back the effects of fentanyl around the Houston area.
Houston’s Efforts to Target Fentanyl Dealers
The Houston police department is in full combat mode trying to find and arrest the people who are selling Fentanyl to people around Houston. They wholeheartedly have a group of officers that were put together, and their main priority is combatting Fentanyl.
There are people within the Houston police department whose focus of their job is to catch people selling Fentanyl. Their operation could be compared to what some federal agencies do, such as the DEA or ATF agents.
The Houston Police Department are constantly working around the clock surveying areas of Houston that harbor people who have Fentanyl on their and are ready to sell it.
They take as many people down as they can. The hard part of taking down people who took Fentanyl is the fact that there are federal laws that prevent you from arresting people with drugs if they do not have a large amount in their possession.
The Houston Police Department has many specialized units and task forces with the sole priority of taking out Fentanyl dealers in Houston. The Houston Police Department, along with other federal agencies, spends a considerable amount of time on the streets writing and gathering information to find who is dealing with Fentanyl.
They use this information after gathering enough of it to try and put it all together to make a case and eventually try and catch the person selling. The officials who trade Fentanyl use all of their undercover officers to provide the information they would gather after hearing something from their informants, which states that the person they are watching has in their possession Fentanyl.
Houston’s Approach to Fentanyl Distribution
The channels through which fentanyl is distributed throughout Houston are incredibly intricate and have become more interconnected over time. The drug frequently will be brought across the Mexican border and smuggled to Houston to be conveyed along various routes into the city.
Manufacturing or the smuggling of fentanyl into Houston is not the primary issue. Local drug distributors play the most significant role in the distribution network, as they are the ones responsible for distributing the drugs to fentanyl dealers who are accessible to the public.
The web of distribution through which fentanyl is moved into the community has made it difficult for law enforcement agencies to undermine the proliferation of fentanyl within the region.
Conversely, by tackling the distributors of higher rank but the local dealers at the bottom, Houston law enforcement agencies have used a strategy of attrition or erosion, for they are targeting every part of the fentanyl marketplace, including removing local dealers in the process.
As they anticipated, by dismantling distribution lines they wanted to not only dismantle the supply chain but drive down the amount of fentanyl available within Houston.
This comprehensive approach aims to curb the influx of fentanyl and safeguard the Houston community from the harmful effects of this potent opioid. By tackling both the supply and distribution of fentanyl, Houston authorities strive to protect public health and safety.
Addressing the Root Causes of Fentanyl Abuse in Houston
If the fentanyl crisis in Houston is to be effectively addressed, it is incumbent upon authorities to tackle the root causes of addiction. This would demand that a range of underlying issues including, but not limited to, mental health, fiscal inequality; and gaps in healthcare provision and treatment be addressed.
A number of community organizations working alongside medical professionals, are already dedicating time and effort towards improving accessibility to addiction treatment facilities and enhancing preventative measures. It is hoped that through addressing these fundamental issues, the rate of fentanyl abuse, specifically in Houston, will, however fall in time.
Collaborative Approaches to Combat Fentanyl in Houston
Unified stakeholders have formulated a response in Houston to the crisis of fentanyl. All the areas of the community’s law enforcement, healthcare providers, community organizations, and government have joined in the frontlines to resolve the fentanyl issue and to help the well-being of the people overall.
Among many projects and efforts that are applied, one main collaboration among the different agencies is the task force. The task force not only allows agencies to share their information but also lets them collect their efforts to attack the fentanyl issue more effectively and also lets them target where the fentanyl is supplied more effectively.
Many said that the collaboration of health organizations, law enforcement, treatment centers, and support groups has been the best. Another collaborative project amongst centers and local authorities that are filed in Houston that they have been using is some of the treatment centers in Houston, which have also formed collaborative programs with local authorities.
Facilities have joined up with local authorities to develop programs that specifically target individuals who are affected by fentanyl and its negative impact on their lives.
Many of the cities is trying to develop a multi-phased program that involves using medication to help the patient deal with rehabilitation symptoms and medicine to keep the individual stable overall.
All the effort to treat the patient with rehab and a series of counseling and therapy is a pretty good effort by the facility. Everyone deserves a pat on the back overall.
Collaboration also means being involved in public awareness campaigns to educate the community about the risks of fentanyl and the consequences when they abuse it. Awareness of the dangers and prevention will help people make the right decisions.
By use of the collaborative approach, Houston, TX, has adopted a different, more hands-on approach to combating the fentanyl crisis. The city has supported using a multi-agency strategy where agencies work together in a coordinated effort for the prevention of fentanyl abuse, education, treatment and overall well-being of our communities.
Available Resources for Those Affected by Fentanyl in Houston
The city of Houston is extremely well aware of the severity of the fentanyl addiction issue and has taken many measures to provide numerous resources and services to those affected by the fentanyl addiction, and many facilities are available to someone in need of help in the Houston area.
One of the leading fentanyl treatment facilities in Houston is Virtue Recovery Center. In this facility, there are countless specialized programs, each designed for someone looking to reach long-term sobriety from fentanyl, and their programs are equipped with scientifically tested therapies and counseling about the physical, emotional, and cognitive factors of addiction and recovery.
In addition to Virtue Recovery Center Houston, support groups, counseling services, and multiple hotlines can be found right in the Houston area to aid in the continued abstinence from the cycle of addiction the fentanyl addiction creates.
The Importance of Public Education and Prevention Efforts into 2024
Houston recognizes that the educational and prevention aspect of the fentanyl crisis is integral to addressing it. Throughout the Houston community, different organizations, schools, and healthcare providers are actively raising awareness on the issue by describing what fentanyl is, describing its danger, and that fentanyl actually can be stopped.
This educational push is forcing Houston residents to learn about the substance simply. To help everyone in the Houston community be safe for the general public, Community-wide protective measures, such as drug take-back programs, educational group coaching services, town halls, and community forums throughout the city, have been implemented to make all residents safe from fentanyl.
The goal of using these methods of the community approach is to educate the general public about what is going on with fentanyl. To get the Houston community not to use the drug correctly is to carry out a very strong education approach. They use this by sending out essentially enormous amounts of fentanyl information.
By providing immediate awareness of fentanyl on the streets and the current trend it will cause public awareness along with permission to be educated on their health.
In addition to informative initiatives, collaborative partnerships between law enforcement agencies, healthcare providers, and community organizations are being forged to address fentanyl abuse comprehensively. These stakeholders can leverage their unique perspectives and resources to develop innovative prevention programs and interventions by working together.
Empowering Communities Through Education
Education can play a major role in the battle against fentanyl abuse. Educational programs can give communities the knowledge they need to prevent fentanyl abuse, spot addiction, and find help for the addicted.
Houston wants to raise awareness so the city can be collectively accountable and be more proactive as a community. Education can help people make choices knowing how fentanyl is devastating Houston, addiction, and family members.
Long-Term Solutions for Fentanyl Control in Houston
While immediate measures are being taken to address the Houston fentanyl crisis, it is crucial to explore long-term solutions that will have a lasting impact on the community. Houston is committed to reducing the prevalence of the Houston fentanyl epidemic and ensuring the safety and well-being of its residents.
Implementing Comprehensive Addiction Treatment Programs
Houston is trying comprehensive addition treatment programs to fight the fentanyl crisis. The programs us have specialized care and specific supports for people who are addicted to fentanyl. The programs care for both the medical and psychological side of the disease. The programs are evidence based therapies, counseling/medical interventions that are on-site and that get people off the fentanyl and off the street.
Expanding Access to Mental Health Services
Prioritizing the expansion of access to mental health services, the city of Houston recognizes the correlation between mental health and substance abuse. By supplying people with the help they need to attend to problems like depression, anxiety, and trauma, the city is attempting to wean people off of using fentanyl as a way of quitting these problems. In not providing people with the resources they need, the city will have a hard time trying to stop people from falling back into the habits they walked away from.
Advocating for Policy Changes
At the state level, Houston is actively advocating for policy changes to better address the fentanyl crisis. Those policy changes include enhanced regulations, increased penalties for those trafficking drugs, and broader access to addiction treatment services. At the federal level, Houston is partnering with advocates, lawmakers, and policymakers to define a legal framework that effectively responds to the fentanyl challenge and supports a comprehensive approach to drug control.
Moving Forward: Houston’s Fight Against Fentanyl
The problem facing the city of Houston is the Fentanyl Crisis. Although, the city of Houston has a plan to solve this crisis. This crisis has been going on for years and continues today and into 2024.
By recognizing the situation as a dire issue, Houston began implementing a labyrinthine plan of action by integrating a combination of law enforcement strategies, drug prevention programs, and a vast number of addiction treatment programs.
The implementation of multiple initiatives within Houston is steadily working to combat the underlying causes of fentanyl abuse and the severity that this dangerous narcotic has on society and the world.
Addressing the fentanyl crisis requires the joint involvement of many different parties. As such, it is necessary for law enforcement agencies, healthcare providers, communities, general coalitions, and government bodies to cooperate to solve the problem.
With a cooperative effort, law enforcement and public health officials can disrupt the flow of drugs, help people understand the risks of fentanyl and support treatment and recovery for individuals suffering from addiction.
By addressing both the supply and demand sides of the fentanyl problem, the city of Houston is attempting to prevent the occurrence of a dangerous future for its inhabitants.
Indelibly committed to remediation, the city is making great strides in the progression of addiction treatment programs, the formation of mental health clinics, and the never-ending fight to claim policy change at both the state and federal level.
Houston’s committed stance against the fentanyl epidemic, which is running epidemic in the United States. The state of Texas, as a whole, is going through a fentanyl epidemic right now. We may be one of the three or four places in America experiencing this epidemic the most.
The fact that we all as a whole though are taking a stand is the most important thing because we are showing unity in the fact that we stand together as a whole, and we will not take being taken over by drugs that we want and need to fight these sorts of things as a community.
FAQ
Is fentanyl readily available in Houston?
Yes, fentanyl has become increasingly available in the illicit drug market in Houston, posing a serious public health concern.
How has fentanyl impacted Houston?
Fentanyl overdoses have reached alarming levels in Houston, resulting in a significant increase in fentanyl-related deaths and contributing to a local epidemic.
What is being done to address the fentanyl crisis in Houston?
Houston is implementing various initiatives and partnerships to combat the fentanyl crisis, including raising awareness, expanding access to treatment, and enhancing overdose prevention strategies.
Are there specific efforts to target fentanyl dealers in Houston?
Yes, law enforcement agencies in Houston have established specialized task forces and investigative units to identify and apprehend fentanyl dealers operating within the city.
How does fentanyl distribution work in Houston?
Fentanyl is often smuggled into Houston from Mexico and distributed by local drug distributors to street-level dealers and users, contributing to its prevalence in the city.
What is being done to address the root causes of fentanyl abuse in Houston?
Efforts are being made to address underlying factors such as mental health issues, economic disparities, and limited access to healthcare and treatment options, to reduce the prevalence of fentanyl abuse in Houston.
How are various stakeholders collaborating to combat the fentanyl crisis in Houston?
Stakeholders such as law enforcement, healthcare providers, community organizations, and government agencies are actively working together to implement prevention strategies and provide specialized addiction treatment programs.
What resources are available for those affected by fentanyl in Houston?
Houston offers a range of resources and services for individuals and families impacted by fentanyl, including addiction treatment centers, support groups, counseling services, and helplines.
How important is public education and prevention in addressing the fentanyl crisis?
Public education and prevention efforts play a crucial role in raising awareness about the dangers of fentanyl and providing individuals and communities with the knowledge and tools to prevent its abuse.
What are the long-term solutions for fentanyl control in Houston?
Houston is exploring comprehensive addiction treatment programs, expanding access to mental health services, and advocating for policy changes to address the fentanyl crisis in the long run.
How is Houston continuing its fight against fentanyl?
Houston remains committed to combating the fentanyl crisis through collaborative efforts, implementing prevention strategies, and ensuring the safety and well-being of its residents.
- About the Author
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Nicki Lugo is currently employed as Clinical Director at Virtue Recovery Center in Las Vegas. Nicki is a licensed clinical professional counselor (CPC) in the state of Nevada and a licensed associate counselor (LAC) in the state of Arizona. She is also a licensed clinical alcohol and drug counselor (LCADC) in Nevada. Additionally, Nicki has specialized training in treating trauma and is a certified clinical trauma specialist (CCTS).
Nicki has earned a Master of Science degree in Psychology with an emphasis in Behavioral Health from the University of Phoenix and a Master of Science in Professional Counseling from Grand Canyon University. Currently, Nicki is pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Counseling Education and Supervision at Grand Canyon University. Nicki’s research interests include the use of Positive Psychology interventions with dual diagnosis clients. Nicki hopes to contribute to the body of knowledge in treating substance use disorders.
Nicki’s long-term career goals include advancing in leadership roles within Virtue Recovery Center which is a quickly growing substance use disorder treatment facility. She hopes that one day her research and advocacy will help to save the lives of those who have been affected by substance use. She likes to say that advocacy is her passion and leadership is her superpower.
