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Dr. Corinne Stern is a different kind of doctor.
Instead of helping sick patients recover, Stern’s job is to figure out what killed a person by determining the cause and method of death.
For over 15 years, Stern has served as a county coroner in Laredo, Texas, investigating everything from catastrophic accidents to violent crimes.
But last year, she began to notice a disturbing connection with the many corpses on the autopsy table.
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“Prior to 2021, it was rare to see a fentanyl death in this clinic,” Dr. Stern told Fox News.
“We can now say that at least half of drug overdoses involve fentanyl,” she continued.
Dr. Stern is certainly not alone.
Perhaps no profession is more involved in America’s ongoing fentanyl crisis than US coroners, forensic pathologists, and coroners, who are tasked with investigating overdose deaths.
“These overdoses are affecting people of all ages,” said Bobby Joe O’Neill, a coroner for Charleston County, South Carolina.
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“Old and young, teens to 80s…all demographics,” she said.
O’Neill also serves as president of the International Association of Coroners and Coroners, a group that helps other industry professionals hone their skills.
She said her colleagues across the country, from big cities to small towns, are seeing a growing number of counterfeit drugs.
“The tablets may say Xanax, they may be coded, but they could be fake, they are actually fentanyl,” O’Neil explained.
Small amounts of synthetic opioids can be fatal, and people may be taking them unknowingly.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), 4 out of 10 counterfeit tablets tested tested positive for a lethal dose of fentanyl, about 2 milligrams (roughly the size of 10 to 12 grains of table salt). I’m here.
learned the truth the hard way
Officials say fentanyl is a popular ingredient mixed with other drugs because it is cheap and readily available.
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Given that small doses of synthetic opioids can be fatal and people may be taking them unknowingly, this is an obvious problem.
This is what mom Jennifer Talamantes learned the hard way two years ago.
“I never thought my son would die from drugs or an overdose,” she told Fox News.
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Jennifer’s son, Jacob, died after taking percocet laced with fentanyl.
he was just 25 years old. If his mother had known what was in it, she says he wouldn’t have taken it.
Fentanyl was responsible for 66% of all drug overdoses in America last year.
“Now they are paying for that one mistake with their lives,” said Talamantes.
“One of those pills could be the end of it.”
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Fentanyl was responsible for 66% of all drug overdoses in America last year, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Officials fighting on the front lines of this war on new drugs fear things will get worse before they get better.
They say a large-scale educational campaign to warn people (particularly children) about the dangers of fentanyl is key to alleviating the problem.
American parents like Talamantes say their best advice is to be open and honest with their children.
“Let them know how deadly this is,” Thalamanthes pleaded.
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“Just one pill. One pill or a night of fun with friends,” she said.
It’s a simple choice that can have eternal consequences.