On Wednesday, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot heralded the passage of Senate Bill 1319, which takes effect Sept. 1. The law will require emergency medical services personnel to share overdose data with law enforcement or the local health authority and allows for overdose mapping.
Creuzot called the law a “significant milestone” in the battle against the ongoing fentanyl crisis. He also lauded the “successful implementation of overdose mapping (ODMAP)” in Dallas, something he sees as a “crucial tool in saving lives” and holding opioid distributors accountable.
Bringing ODMAP to Dallas County was an accomplishment six years in the making, Creuzot said in a news release on Wednesday.
“This is far from mission accomplished in the fight against the fentanyl crisis, but I am relieved to finally have this powerful tool in our arsenal,” he added.
SB 1319 is part of a broader push to combat the rise of fentanyl poisonings and deaths in Texas. Some have lost their lives after taking a pill they didn’t know was laced with fentanyl. Others have died after ingesting only half of a pill.
Dallas City Council members Paula Blackmon and Adam Bazaldua praised SB 1319 in a joint statement late last month.
“Like the rest of the nation, the opioid crisis is in Dallas,” Bazaldua said. “Allowing opioid data sharing between law enforcement, fire and EMS departments within the same city makes sense, and it is urgently needed.”
From 2019 to 2021, fentanyl poisoning-related deaths spiked nearly 400% in the Lone Star State, said Erin Nealy Cox, former U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Texas, in the Wednesday news release. Overdose mapping will let public safety and health officials better understand the scope of the crisis unfolding in North Texas, and that's something she sees as essential to protecting the community.
North Texas has witnessed a rash of fentanyl-related deaths in recent months. Sienna Vaughn, a 16-year-old Plano high school student, died in February after taking what she thought was a Percocet.
Earlier in June, the man described as “the main source of supply” in a recent string of fentanyl deaths and poisonings in Carrollton pleaded guilty to multiple crimes. The pills are manufactured to look like brand-name prescription drugs, including Xanax and OxyContin, and are frequently sold on social media.
Stefanie Turner, founder of the nonprofit Texas Against Fentanyl, lost her 19-year-old son to an illicit pill that had been laced with fentanyl. She told the Observer on Thursday that the state needs a “COVID-like response to tracking fentanyl” because the numbers that get reported aren’t accurate.“We’re stronger together.” – Stefanie Turner, Texas Against Fentanyl founder
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SB 1319 will track where Narcan, an over-the-counter nasal spray used to treat fentanyl poisonings, is administered, Turner explained. Law enforcement can then home in on those areas to intervene, ideally preventing more deaths.
Turner’s late son, Tucker Roe, was the namesake of another bill recently signed by the governor. Tucker’s Law, which took effect last Saturday, will require Texas schools to give instruction to students in grades 6–12 regarding fentanyl abuse prevention and poisoning awareness.
The signing of Tucker’s Law felt “surreal” to Turner.
“Out of all of the bills that [Abbott] signed, I feel the awareness part of it will have the biggest impact to stop the trajectory,” she said. “If we cannot get to the education level, then we're always just chasing the repercussions. So I feel like this gets to the root of it, and gets the awareness before it results in addiction or death.”
House Bill 6, which allow authorities to file murder charges against anyone who provides someone a lethal dose of fentanyl, is another measure signed by Abbott. While it gained widespread bipartisan support, the bill has also attracted some criticism.
The group Texas Harm Reduction Alliance issued a press release last week stating that HB 6 will lead to additional “overdose deaths and suffering.” They argued that similar laws have long existed but failed to extinguish the nation’s overdose crisis.
A THRA representative told Fox 7 in Austin that HB 6 will mean that people are “going to be more afraid of calling 911 when there's an overdose happening.”
Drug dealers are often young people who are struggling with addiction themselves. Turner noted that her son’s dealer was a 19-year-old boy. The way she sees it, officials should prioritize cracking down on big distributors, not small-timers struggling with substance-use disorders.
Looking ahead, Turner wants future legislation to focus on addressing the mental health component of such disorders. And she encourages anyone who’s lost a loved one to fentanyl to reach out.
“There's power in our community and healing,” she said. “It's hard to walk losing a loved one alone, and there's just been so much healing within Texas Against Fentanyl’s network. We’re stronger together.”
