Police and prosecutors use multiple strategies in Mid-Missouri fight against fentanyl, from rehab to life behind bars

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat in the U.S. and Mid-Missouri, leaving communities to fight against a substance that is taking thousands of lives every year across the country.

In 2022, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 1,424 overdose deaths from synthetic opioids. From January to June 2023, the University of Missouri St.-Louis reported 1,015 overdose deaths with 70% being fentanyl-related.

The deadly drug took the life of Columbia man Jim Evans' daughter, Misty Kelly, on April 8 and changed his life forever.

"She came out of the door and just hit the ground, she was dead before she even hit the ground, they did CPR on her for a half-hour before they called an ambulance," Evans said.

Kelly was also a Columbia resident. Her father says Kelly started using meth about 14 years ago at age 30.

"She was a good girl, she had a big heart. I miss her," Evans said.

Evans is just one of an untold number of people who have lost a loved one to a fentanyl overdose. According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2022, over 100,000 people died from an overdose in the U.S.

This crisis is also killing Missouri children. The Department of Social Services reported that 42 children died of a fentanyl overdose, with 20 of them being under years old, in 2022.

Fentanyl was created in 1959 and is used to treat pain in a medical setting. But, over the past decade, the drug has been mixed with street drugs. The Food and Drug Administration says fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin.

John Schrock with the Drug Enforcement Administration St. Louis Region says the production of fentanyl all starts overseas.

"It's manufactured with precursors that come from China and it's manufactured in Mexico and then fentanyl in both powder and pill form make its way from Mexico into the United States," Schrock said.

To try to cut off the supply chain, Schrock said the DEA works with local law enforcement to find what organizations are importing and distributing it and what methods they are using. State and county officials are working to crack down on traffickers of the highly addictive drug and some lawmakers are pushing to change the books.

Under current law, a person commits a Class B felony if they traffic more than 10 milligrams of fentanyl and a Class A felony if it is more than 20 milligrams.

However, some in Missouri are trying to increase penalties for possession and distribution.

Rep. David Casteel (R-High Ridge) says, "Just over the lethal dose, so 5 milligrams, is what we would reduce that to."

Prosecutors are also working to hold dealers accountable for selling someone the drug who then dies from an overdose.

"We rely on information law enforcement gathers to be able to prove that the drug that caused the overdose came from the defendant that was selling the drug," Boone County Prosecutor Roger Johnson said. "Over the past year, we have charged six people with murder for fentanyl overdoses."

Johnson says a person charged with murder for a fentanyl overdose could get 10 years to life in prison and charges range from second-degree murder -- also known as felony murder -- to involuntary manslaughter.

But, Johnson says getting a guilty verdict requires proving the dealer knew they sold fentanyl to that person who overdosed.

"It can be the way they have the drugs packaged or how they have other things mixed in with the drugs. it can be the number of pills they have the money that they have all the things to prove that they were selling them and they knew what they were," Johnson said.

Not only is it about holding the dealers accountable, Cole County Prosecutor Locke Thompson said, it's also about getting users help and putting them in treatment court.

"Just because someone goes behind bars doesn't mean rehabilitation doesn't happen too," Thompson said. Jail sometimes comes with a 120-day substance abuse program designed to get inmates off drugs, out of jail on and probation.

Evans wanted rehab for his daughter but he says she just wasn't ready. He says for the future he hopes dealers are held accountable and people think twice when it comes to fentanyl.

"Don't do this stuff kids, talk to somebody about it and lock these dealers up, lock them up," Evans said. "Like I said the first time, give them 20 years and after that just throw away the key," Evans said.

The FDA approved the nasal spray Narcan, also known as Naxolone, for over-the-counter, non-prescription use in March 2023. It also extended the shelf-life of the life-saving drug from two to three years.

Narcan is available at a local pharmacy and is also available at the Columbia/Boone County Health Department.

If you are someone you know needs treatment and services you can contact the Missouri Department of Mental Health.