Opioid overdose problem critical in Hancock County

Hancock County has among the most drug overdoses in Mississippi every year, and the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office has revamped its narcotics unit to create a response protocol and hold those responsible for providing the narcotics accountable.

“Currently, Hancock County is consistently in the top three counties for drug overdoses, and we often lead,” Cmdr. Benjamin Taylor, director of the Hancock Sheriff’s Narcotics Division, said last week.

“Right now, it fluctuates (month to month) between us, Harrison County and Pearl River County,” Taylor said. “And it’s not per capita, it’s not a percentage, it’s literally one-to-one.”

The latest U.S. Census data indicates that Harrison County has 206,169 residents, and Hancock County has 47,339.

“When you look at it from a per capita standpoint,” Taylor said, “we’re way higher.”

One of the biggest reasons for the opioid overdoses in recent months, Taylor said, is the prevalence of drug traffickers adding fentanyl to heroin or other narcotics without the users’ knowledge to enhance the potency of the drugs.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid which is 80-100 times stronger than morphine.

Because of its potency and low cost, drug dealers have been mixing fentanyl with other drugs including heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine, increasing the likelihood of a fatal interaction, according to the US. Drug Enforcement Agency.

“This year in Hancock County, we’ve had at least 31 overdoses since Jan. 1,” Taylor said, “and there have been about 12 fatal overdose cases.”

Even more of those cases would have been fatal, Taylor said, if Hancock deputies and Bay St. Louis and Waveland police officers hadn’t all started keeping Narcan with them at all times.

Narcan is a brand name for the prescription medicine Naloxone, which is used for the treatment of a known or suspected opioid overdose emergency. It is approved by the FDA to rapidly reverse opioid overdose symptoms.

You can now get it at local pharmacies without a prescription.

“Years ago, it was issued for officer safety, in case an officer accidentally came into contact with fentanyl or some other substance,” Taylor said, “but now we’re using it for citizens.”

Taylor said there have been several reports of drug activities at local schools.

Taylor said it’s important to talk to your children about the risks and dangers inherent in drug use, and the toll opioids have been taking on the local population.

“They have vape pens now that can even look like a USB thumb drive,” Taylor said, “so parents may or may not know that’s what their kid has.”

Taylor said the chemicals in the vape pens aren’t being mixed by pharmacists or doctors, they’re being created by drug dealers — you don’t know what’s in them or what they could do to you.

“About a month ago, there was a student with a THC vape pen at a local high school,” who ended up having to go to the hospital, Taylor said.

To cope with the situation, he said, the Hancock County Sheriff’s Narcotics Division has revamped and is working with the Bay and Waveland police departments, as well as the DEA Task Force.

Now, when someone overdoses, Taylor said, the Narcotics Division treats the location as an active crime scene once the victim has gotten medical attention, getting search warrants when necessary, and tracking down the person who sold the drugs.

“We can track them back all the way to the source and prosecute them in federal court, as need be,” Taylor said.

Before, Taylor said, “typically, we were confined to the county. Now, with the federal task force, we can track them and arrest them wherever, whether it’s in Louisiana or all the way in California.”

In addition, he said, “If you sell drugs and someone overdoses and dies, you will be charged with that crime, with charges that can range from manslaughter to murder.”

“We really need to get the word out to the public,” Taylor said. “The overdoses are really tearing the county apart right now. We have the highest number right here in Hancock County.”

In fact, Taylor left federal law enforcement — he previously worked for Homeland Security — to come back to his home in Hancock County and help restore it to the way it used to be.

“I want our kids to have the same quality of life that I had growing up here,” he said. “It’s sad, there’s so much more out there than there used to be, a lot of harsh stuff out there for our kids. Definitely, talk to your children. Educate them on the fact that every time you’re using an illegal narcotic, you’re putting your life in the hands of someone who may not have your best interests at heart — they’re out for profit.”

Col. Steven Maxwell, director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, visited the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office on Friday to meet with Narcotics Division officers.

Maxwell said the bureau’s relationship with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Narcotics Division and other law enforcement agencies around the state has been crucial in getting drugs off the streets and saving people’s lives.

Maxwell agreed with Taylor that the prevalence of vaping has complicated matters for law enforcement.

“A lot of the oils that are being purchased and used for vaping are chemicals” that can cause harmful effects, he said. “So often, the adults as well as kids don’t know what they’re vaping.”

Maxwell said that in addition to law enforcement agencies, the bureau is working with the state department of public health and non-profit agencies on new solutions.

He said the men and women of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, “are the boots on the ground in Hancock County — they have their finger on the pulse of what is going on in the streets.”

“What the public needs to know,” he said, “is that first and foremost, everyone should have Narcan (or another Naloxone product) in their first aid kit at home.

“Parents need to have their own personal medications … in a safe, locked, secure location, and in addition to that, no one should be ingesting any medication whatsoever that was not obtained from a professional pharmacist or physician, unless it was purchased over the counter from a reputable pharmacy or business.”

Hancock Sheriff Ricky Adam said the public can report suspected illegal drug activity by contacting his office at 228-466-6900 or SOTips@co.hancock.ms.us; or by calling Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-877-787-5898.