In April 2016, Pennington Country Sheriff Kevin Thom told at a state oversight council that meth use had “gone off the charts” and was “out of control” in parts of South Dakota. However, fentanyl, a synthetic substance 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, caused a new epidemic in multiple countries, including the United States and Canada, thus, many see the drug more dangerous than methamphetamine.
After the statement of Sheriff Thom, the state spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to offer treatment opportunities for the addicts, launch a campaign against the use of the substance, and to warn people, especially young persons, about the dangers of meth. The state also incentivized the citizens who are on probation or parole to stop using the narcotic substance.
However, according to the news publication Capital Journal, the costly campaign did not help much at the situation. The use of the drug skyrocketed in the last year with meth reported as the key ingredient in violent crimes.
Methamphetamine has now a rival, fentanyl, which is far more potent than any of the “traditional” drugs, and both law enforcement and the government warned the public about the dangers of the narcotic.
On June 20, the Lawrence County State’s Attorney’s Office announced the indictment of nine suspects who are facing approximately 50 felony charges. The primary drug in the case was reported to be fentanyl analogs. The investigation started after two persons of Spearfish, South Dakota, aged 23 and 38, fatally overdosed on fentanyl in January. Lawrence County indicted the suspects just a week after a 19-year-old defendant of Chamberlain was detained by the police for possessing 20,000 fentanyl pills worth approximately $500,000.
Until recently, the epidemic caused by the synthetic opioid had only be seen as a “big city problem” in some of the states. In 2014, the Centers for Disease Control reported that 80 percent of fentanyl seizures occurred in 10 eastern states.
Since then, fentanyl has spread to other states of the country, including central and western South Dakota, where most of the people feel insulated from drug epidemics and the fatal consequences connected to substance abuse. According to the Capital Journal, fentanyl has the attribute to sweep through states like a plague. In New Hampshire, for example, the number of fentanyl-related deaths increased from 145 to 283 from 2014 to 2015, according to the statistics published by the National Drug Early Warning System. The state’s population is only around 1.3 million people.
In Lawrence County, the 37-year-old Eric Reeder faces 20 felony charges, including two counts of first-degree manslaughter. According to the Spearfish police, the suspect told them he ordered the fentanyl from the dark web, and the substance was delivered to him via the national postal service. Ashley Kristina Kuntz, 32, is also facing a first-degree manslaughter charge.
The investigation was conducted by the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office, the Lawrence County State’s Attorney’s Office, and Spearfish police. According to the Capital Journal, the fentanyl epidemic requires an immediate response from law enforcement authorities.
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