Kate Stewart

A Pleasant Valley student hold the bottles of various medications prescribed to her by her doctors.

Though the opioid crisis is far from new news, the rate at which it has begun to spread has been a shock to many.

Sweeping the nation, the midwest has experienced opioid-related mortality rates that more than double every three years in several states.

With deaths in the US related to opioid use now at a higher number than deaths related to heroin use, the use of opioids continues to climb. Fentanyl–a drug that is 100 stronger than Morphine and prescribed as a pain-reliever–has become especially prevalent. Though before the risk of heroin overdose was a main focus for law enforcement, the rapid increase in deaths related to opioid use suggests that drugs like Fentanyl have spread to pollute other drugs besides heroin, like cocaine and methamphetamines. 

As drugs like Fentanyl continue to be mixed into other readily available substances, concern about community and student safety comes into question. 

Students and staff at Pleasant Valley High School are no strangers to the crisis. Deputy Fah, school resource officer, agreed that although those within the school may not be directly involved with the consumption of opiates, the crisis is evident within Pleasant Valley. “I think in general the opioid crisis in the community is really big, but I haven’t directly dealt with it in the building,” he said. 

The opioid abundance within the community takes a toll on officer safety as well. “Carfentanil and Fentanyl are [examples of] opiates that are incredibly powerful and police officers have come into contact with them throughout the course of their work and put their personal safety in danger,” said Fah. “So obviously that concerns me.”

Fah also commented on how the opioid crisis affects multiple aspects of student life, several of which are unrelated to drug abuse. “More than anything that opioid addiction that they get either from prescription medications they were prescribed or from illicit street drugs, really drives into all kinds of other criminality which affects us as well,” said Fah. “And most of them do not get treatment for the root cause which is addiction.” 

Though the concern about drug use is always a concern, Pleasant Valley works to keep students informed about the concerns regarding addiction. Fah commented, “I think the school does a good job of making sure that they get information to students and they don’t hide what they find.” 

Students shared similar concerns regarding the opioid crisis in the Quad Cities. Senior Amber Thomsen commented that she knows “some students involved in drugs like that have problems in school too.”

As the opioid crisis continues to spread to different areas of the US, both law enforcement and students face threats to several aspects of their lives.