By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Drugs remain a stubborn problem in Buchanan County.
Buchanan County Sheriff Bill Puett says some recent developments are even undercutting efforts to prevent overdose deaths. Puett says some fentanyl is being laced with xylazine, which is resistant to Narcan.
“I know that there are different groups that really push out Narcan to try to make sure that (if) people overdose, that they can hit them with Narcan and hopefully bring them back until they can get medical help,” Puett tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “But now we see that there are chemicals being mixed to prohibit Narcan from working. So that’s pretty scary.”
Puett says some new combinations using fentanyl have been coming across the southern border of the United States, more deadly than before. A mixture of fentanyl with ketamine can act as a paralyzing agent.
“If it completely paralyzes your body and then you have the fentanyl on top of it, that’s a really, really dangerous, scary mix,” according to Puett.
Puett seeks to assure county residents his office continues to be aggressive in enforcing the country’s drug laws. Puett says he understands some are frustrated with the influx of drugs, especially new and more deadly varieties.
“Sometimes people get frustrated and I can appreciate that,” Puett says. “Well, we know that x is selling drugs out of their house. Well, believing that we know that they’re selling drugs out of that house or that location is different than the requirements that we have locally to legally gather evidence and put a case together and get it to the prosecutor and make sure they’re prosecuted.”
Puett says by the time he was warned about a new, deadly combination of fentanyl being smuggled across the southern border, members of the Buchanan County Drug Strike Force had already confiscated some locally.