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Fentanyl strips are saving lives BY NOELLE OLSON SHOREVIEW PRESS EDITOR

“We were shamed a little less, but the training was a lot harder,” he said. “I recall that our final challenge was a three-day mission to build a floating bridge over a wide river. We marched 5 miles through snow to get to our campsite.” He continued, “The problem was, the bridge could not be built because the river was frozen. The senior sergeant ordered men with sledgehammers to be strapped to a floating platform. After they broke the ice away, the rest of us began to build the floating bridge.”

Fentanyl test strips are a harm-reduction tool to prevent a drug overdose and are legal to possess, carry and distribute in Minnesota. According to the Minnesota Department of Health, fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is used medically to treat severe pain. Illicitly manufactured fentanyl is driving an increase in drug overdose deaths, both nationally and in Minnesota. Overdose deaths in Minnesota involving synthetic opioids, including fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, increased by 81% — 298 to 539 deaths — from 2019 to 2020. Ramsey County Public Health has a syringeexchange program at Clinic 555, located at 555 Cedar St. in St. Paul, where individuals can get free fentanyl strips. “I really believe these test strips are saving lives,” said Jessie Saavedra, opioid prevention coordinator for Ramsey County Public Health. “People are taking time and slowing down by checking their drugs and are not in a rush to do them.” Saavedra started working in the syringe exchange program at Clinic 555 in 2018. “At that time we were giving them out, but very scarcely,” he said, “mainly because we weren’t seeing fentanyl in the streets as much as we started to see in 2019 and 2020.” According to Saavedra, in 2021 more people were asking for fentanyl test strips at Clinic 555 because they knew fentanyl was beginning to show up in more of the drugs they were using. “Most of the drugs that are being sold on the street are laced with fentanyl and, unfortunately, when they are using the drugs, they are getting used to the fentanyl,” Saavedra said. “That’s what’s so scary about this, and that’s why having these fentanyl test strips as a harm-reduction tool is helpful. It’s not the answer, of course, but it’s just another tool.” Saavedra noted that xylazine, a drug used as a horse or cattle tranquilizer, is becoming more common. “It’s not as prevalent here in Minnesota as it is in Chicago or Pennsylvania, but it is here,” Saavedra said. “If you’re using fentanyl cut with xylazine, it makes the fentanyl last longer. It’s a totally different kind of high and it makes you pass out. And the worst part is that Narcan (overdose reversal medication) is not effective on xylazine.” He continued, “The particles are so small in fentanyl and xylazine that it doesn’t take much to overdose on.” Saavedra said he estimates that Clinic 555 distributes approximately four to five

SEE VIETNAM VETERAN, PAGE 8

SEE FENTANYL STRIPS, PAGE 6

NOELLE OLSON | PRESS PUBLICATIONS

Vietnam Veteran John Abbott at his home in Shoreview. He still fits into his U.S. Army uniform.

Veteran recalls time in Vietnam BY NOELLE OLSON SHOREVIEW PRESS EDITOR

“You realize very quickly that you are in a different world, and you learn to be very adaptable,” Vietnam Veteran John Abbott said about his time in Vietnam. Abbott, of Shoreview, was drafted into the Army after he graduated from Brown University in 1968. “I volunteered to go to Officer Candidate School (OCS), and one of reasons I did it was I thought maybe the war would be over by the time I graduated,” he said.

“The first memory that I have of the Army was the traumatic induction process.” Abbott said basic training at Fort Dix in New Jersey was a time of soul-searching and pain. “When we faltered, we felt the same shame as when we were belittled and screamed at by our drill sergeants,” Abbott said. “I remember hearing the ice break as we jumped into our shooting pits. We had to stand in freezing water during our rifle firing practice.” After basic training, Abbott went to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri for combat engineer training.

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