There are two powerful synthetic substances imported into the U.S. through Mexican drug trafficking that are changing the drug world as we know it today — fentanyl and methamphetamine.
“These two drugs together, given the supplies that are being produced now and, and smuggled into the United States are really what make these two drugs game changers,” renowned journalist Sam Quinones said.
Quinones spoke about his new book, “The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth” at the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre Tuesday evening.
The opioid epidemic mainly consisted of buying and selling of pain killers and heroin before being taken over by the trafficking of meth and fentanyl. Quinones’s book explores the increase in production and distribution of meth and fentanyl in an America already grappling with an opioid crisis.
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Quinones’ book also presents stories of those trying to find and create solutions to this problem. From a sheriff in Ohio who hired a man recovering from drug addiction as a dispatcher, to a town in Northern Kentucky that created a recovery unit in a jail to help people accused of drug-related crimes — there are stories of hope amidst the suffering.
“You need to find places where people can be put, where they can't leave, where they can have time away from the drugs so that … their brain has time to heal,” Quinones said. “Otherwise, what's happening is people are going mad and then they're dying all across the country in very scary numbers.”
Quinones said rethinking the jail system is vital to seeing change occur.
His latest book, published in 2021, is a follow-up to his first book about the opioid crisis, “Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic.”
Quinones spoke at at 7 p.m. Tuesday night to a sold out theatre with a capacity of 583.
