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BEHIND THE BADGE
Revisiting a Growing, Deadly Drug Problem: Fentanyl BY IAN PARKINSON
I
f this column gives you a sense of déjà vu, you’re right. In July of last year, my column dealt with the tragic death of a 7-monthold girl who died from exposure to fentanyl. I had hoped the problem would get better. It hasn’t. In fact, it’s gotten worse. And that’s why I felt it was necessary to write another column, exactly one year later, about the issue.
of Highway 166. The car came to a complete stop on the shoulder of the highway just south of the Tefft Street off ramp in Nipomo. As a deputy questioned the occupants of the car, the car suddenly took off and exited the highway at Tefft Street. Deputies located and stopped the vehicle at East Tefft Street and Beechnut Street in Nipomo. The female driver, identified as 20-year-old Zoe Rutledge of Nipomo, was For those of you who don’t know, fentanyl is detained. Ackerman fled the vehicle. a dangerous and deadly drug. It is a synthetic opioid that is similar to morphine but is 80 Deputies and members of the Sheriff ’s Speto 100 times more potent. I gave an example cial Operations Unit began searching for Ackof the deadly nature of fentanyl in last year’s erman. He was spotted in the front yard of a column, but it’s still worthy of repeating. A le- house before running into a nearby field near thal amount can be as little as 25 nanograms East Branch Street in Nipomo, where he was per milliliter. To give you an idea of how small caught and arrested. Detectives discovered a that is, a nanogram is one billionth of a gram. backpack in the field where Ackerman had been That’s billion with a “B.” arrested. That same backpack had been spotted in the vehicle that Ackerman had fled. Inside, Not long ago, we had a narcotics investiga- a kilo (approximately 2.2 pounds) of fentanyl tion that led to the seizure of a large quantity was found. It’s estimated worth: $25,000. Or, of fentanyl in our county. The investigation if sold by the gram at $125 a gram, that would began in April when members of the Sheriff ’s be worth $125,000. Ackerman was arrested for Gang Task Force were tracking a wanted felon, possession of a controlled substance for sale, 31-year-old Julian Ackerman of Coalinga, who transporting a controlled substance for sale, was suspected of driving into San Luis Obispo and resisting a peace officer. Rutledge was arCounty with a large amount of narcotics. Later rested for attempting to evade a peace officer that month, Sheriff ’s Deputies spotted the car in a reckless manner. with two occupants, Ackerman and a female driver. Deputies attempted to pull the vehicle According to the Drug Enforcement Adover on northbound Highway 101 just north ministration, a lethal dose of fentanyl is two
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Here are some stats to give you an idea of what this drug is doing to our county: 2018 — 44 total drug-related deaths. Fentanyl was present in 3 cases 2019 — 53 total drug-related deaths. Fentanyl was present in 12 cases 2020 — 88 total drug-related deaths. Fentanyl was present in 34 cases
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2021 — total drug-related deaths. Fentanyl was present in 74 cases milligrams. So, one kilo of pure fentanyl contains approximately 500,000 lethal doses. It is almost incomprehensible how something so small could be so destructive. That’s why we’ve been making a big push to get this drug off the streets. Drug busts like the one described above help, but we know there’s more out there. So, we’ll keep fighting the good fight. And maybe, hopefully, next year, I won’t need to write another column on this topic.
Central Coast Journal
