I read with immense sadness the article in the Herald about the 17-year-old boy who died from a fentanyl overdose one week shy of his 18th birthday.
I think I can speak on behalf of all of us in our community in offering our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and especially his parents. Many of us in La Plata County, including myself, have experienced similar tragedies, and we know your journey will be a long and difficult one. We all wish you peace.
The effects of drugs on our picture-perfect little town have been devastating for many of us. Each year we lose an average of two sons, daughters, brothers and sisters to drug overdose and 14 to suicide that may be related to drug abuse. These are alarming numbers and are double the national per capita averages.
The No. 1 reason kids in small towns turn to drugs is boredom – the lack of things to do in the community. How many times have you heard your kids say, “There’s absolutely nothing to do in this town.” The isolation inherent in small-town life, peer pressure and despair can lead to the need to self-medicate.
Researchers with the National Survey on Drug Use and Health conducted a poll of teens living in rural communities. The study showed teens between ages 12 and 17 who lived in rural communities were 35% more likely to have abused prescription painkillers than teens living in urban areas. They also found teens in small towns are 21% more likely to have abused these drugs than teens in large cities.
When you couple “small-town boredom” with the added isolation of the COVID-19 lockdowns, you have a recipe for small-town disaster. This year has been particularly difficult for our kids. In-person school has been limited and the social isolation has had a negative impact on students whose primary social and emotional development comes through interactions with others at school. The rec center, sports programs and sporting events, recreational activities, social clubs, businesses and restaurants have been closed for much of the past year. Apparently, the only thing kids had left to do was hang out on Rim Drive.
The prolonged isolation kids across the country endured during the pandemic has exacerbated their need for social and emotional support. From April through October, the number of children ages 5 to 11 who were sent to a hospital emergency room because of a mental health crisis spiked by 24% compared with 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. For 12- to 17-year-olds, it was a 31% jump.
President Joe Biden took a step in the right direction and signed legislation Tuesday extending President Donald Trump’s ban on addictive fentanyl-like substances into October, which comes two days before the previous ban was set to expire. In the 12-month period that ended July 30, 2020, there were more than 50,000 deaths involving synthetic opioids in the U.S. Under the extension of the order, these fentanyl analogues are classified by the federal government as Schedule I drugs and are subject to the strictest controls, like heroin.
What saddens me the most is that as a community, we have once again failed our children. Why once again, you ask? Because day after day, year after year, the same thing keeps happening. No one talks about our drug and suicide problems – or even acknowledges that they exist – so how are we ever going to address the issue?
This is “Durango’s dirty little secret.” We all know it exists, we whisper about it behind closed doors, but we do nothing. Where are Durango School District 9R, San Juan Basin Public Health, the sheriff’s office? Not even The Durango Herald has done its part to expose the drug problem. In fact, the only related article, “Fentanyl drug use spiking in Southwest Colorado,” was published in August 2020 and focused on Montezuma County – never once mentioning Durango or La Plata County.
On the other hand, the lack of anonymity in small towns may pose a barrier to accessing care for stigmatized conditions. Are there any intervention services or recovery programs available in La Plata County – or must we all go somewhere else? Maybe if there were treatment options here, this boy’s life could have been saved. This family had him scheduled to go to a rehab center elsewhere one week before his death.
I don’t have the answer to this problem, but it “takes a village,” and I think it’s time we all admit that we have a problem. I urge everyone to get involved in some way to address it. Perhaps SJBPH should take the lead. Our community needs help.
Donna Gulec is a longtime resident of Durango, a business owner and a mother.
