Fentanyl drug overdosing is becoming the leading cause of death, moreso than handguns right now, Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-1st) warned Saturday, August 24th, during a health fair, with HIV/AIDS growth at its highest concentration in the South Shore community, including Auburn Gresham.
“One in three American adults are going to have human diseases, and we’re over-indexing on that. We have the highest death rate from prostate cancer and the same thing is true of breast cancer,” Rep. Jackson said after meeting with a number of physicians from several Safety-Net Hospitals.
Jackson made his remarks during a press conference at the community health resource fair, which included free health screenings, held at the Jackson Park Hospital, 7500 S. Cornell. He was joined by Ald. Michelle A. Harris (8th) and physicians from the Roseland Community Hospital, St. Bernard Hospital, and the South Shore hospitals, which are part of the Safety-Net Hospitals on the south side that service underserved communities.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), compared to people of other racial and ethnic groups, African Americans have higher rates of getting and dying from many kinds of cancer. Blacks have the highest death rate for cancer overall, and they have a lower overall five-year cancer survival rate than whites.
African Americans are more likely than whites to be diagnosed with female breast, lung, and colorectal cancers at a late stage, according to the CDC, and cancer is harder to treat after it spreads from the place where it began to other parts of the body.
Rep. Jackson said the Black community is being served by Safety-Net Hospitals “that have the lowest number of reimbursements, the least amount of funds to service in neighborhoods where people are in the direst straits.” He vowed to fight for more federal funding needed to increase physicians and services for his district.
“The South Shore community has one of the highest incidents of HIV AIDS within its boundaries,” Ald. Harris told the Chicago Crusader. People were able to get tested and receive free medication. She also said Jackson Park Hospital is “really busy with high incidents of HIV-AIDS cases and is on overload” when it comes to fentanyl overdoses. “This was an excellent health fair that provided needed services to people in need.” She thanked Rep. Jackson for putting this fair together a day after the four-day National Democratic Convention.
When contacted, Luis Agostini, Public Information Officer with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for the Chicago Field Division, explained that the fentanyl overdosing and poisoning epidemic has impacted all sides of Chicago, but according to the data, “there is a disproportionate impact on Chicago’s Black community. At least half if not close to 60 percent of Opioid overdose deaths are suffered by Chicago’s Black community.”
When asked why these overdoses are occurring now, Agostini pointed to the years 2018 and 2019 when the surge of Opioid overdose deaths began along with other illicit drugs like heroin, cocaine, and fake pharmaceutic pills he said are contaminated with fentanyl. He blamed the rise of these overdoses on a combination of fentanyl trafficking and counterfeit pill production.
In looking at the drug trafficking of heroin, Agostini explained that this drug “is very time and labor-intensive and more expensive for the drug trafficker and the distributor on the street level. With Fentanyl, it is completely manmade. It’s cheap and has a much higher profit margin for drug traffickers and distributors.”
According to Agostini, the two major Mexican drug cartels trafficking fentanyl are the Sinaloa and the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (CJNG.). “They have extensive networking at the street distribution level. The cartels traffic and provide wholesale to the gangs, and they distribute the drugs. That is where the profits are made.”
Referring to the gun violence he said has always been “front and center and continues to dominate the headlines locally and nationally, Agostini said the data show twice as many people died from an Opioid overdose, mostly from fentanyl, than there were murders in Chicago last year.
Looking at the data provided by the Cook County Medical examiner, Agostini said, “It does appear that a majority of Chicago’s overdose Opioid deaths are attributed to fentanyl with the majority occuring in Chicago’s Black community.”
Last August, the DEA charged ten people for allegedly trafficking fentanyl and other drugs on the South Side of Chicago. Part of a Chicago street gang, DEA officials said they used designated cell phones to receive and service narcotics orders, with other defendants even taking shifts working the phone to distribute the drugs.
Agostini said, “Fentanyl remains the DEA’s top priority because that’s the number one driver of all drug overdose deaths.” The DEA continues to keep the fentanyl investigation at the top of its agenda. Nationally, he said there have been 111,000 drug overdose deaths, including everything from prescriptions to recreational overdose deaths, “with about 70 percent of those deaths being from synthetic Opioids like fentanyl.”
Ask about the availability of Narcan, a life-saving nasal spray that can reverse opioid overdoses; Agostini said there are a few vending machines that contain Narcan, including at the Harold Washington Library. “You can grab one, no questions asked.”
Rep. Jackson said these free Narcan kits, which are in vending machines, have saved the lives of more than 100,000 people annually who have overdosed on fentanyl. He vowed to have several vending machines available for his district, where fentanyl has become a huge problem.
When asked if there is a number the public can call to report suspected selling of fentanyl or any illicit drugs, Agostini urged the public to reach out to their local police by texting CPDTIP.COM or to the DEA.GOV/SUBMIT-TIP.
Agostini said DEA officials will continue to partner with local law enforcement partners on all levels including community organizations. “We are willing to lend our support and share space with those who are looking to make