DA: fentanyl is a killer, literally and figuratively

The synthetic opioid fentanyl is considered a killer addiction.

According to Comanche County District Attorney Kyle Cabelka, it’s literally and figuratively a killer.

In the past week, three people were charged with second-degree murder for their alleged roles in supplying the lethal dose of the drug that killed Steven Knight, 60.

Thursday, another man had drug trafficking charges amended to second-degree murder for the February 2023 death of Tyler Widenhouse, 30. Both men died from overdoses.

Cabelka said to expect more charges like these upon the return of toxicology results from the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner from 2023 overdose deaths. It’s a trend he wants to see make a downturn.

“Since 2022, I’ve charged six people with overdose deaths,” he said. “Last year, LPD (Lawton Police Department) worked 21 fentanyl overdose deaths.”

Cabelka said 2023 was the first year officers were sent to every suspected overdose death. He can’t go back further with numbers to tell when the rise of fentanyl deaths truly began.

However, a barometer of the drug’s growth in the community can be found in how many trafficking filings have been made by Cabelka’s office since 2020: six cases filed in 2020, 15 in 2021, 92 in 2022, and 130 in 2023.

To understand why people knowingly use a drug known to easily cause overdoses, Cabelka said you have to understand how strong it is. When it originally began appearing coincides with the crackdown on opioid-based drugs like oxycodone and hydrocodone. Often, fentanyl pills would be sold on the streets under the guise of being one of the other drugs. Often, when the user found out, it could be too late.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fentanyl is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.

“It’s highly addictive and so much more strong,” Cabelka said. “I don’t know addicts want to have it, but they need it. The withdrawals are violent.”

Cabelka said those who’ve been arrested for fentanyl, from possession to distribution, have said their need for the drug increased over time. They would take one to three doses a day in the beginning; a year later they were up to eight to 10 doses. The overdose risk rises. But it doesn’t take a high volume of intake to result in tragedy.

“The need goes up but also the body’s tolerance goes up,” he said. “But for an overdose, one pill is all it takes for that to happen.”

Another reason there’s been a rise, according to Cabelka, is the influx of the drug onto the streets. He likened it to the methamphetamine epidemic that began really impacting Oklahoma in the early-2000s.

“People want fentanyl cause it’s easier to get,” he said. “Fentanyl is now the cheapest and most available drug in Oklahoma.”

Cabelka said he’s learned from Drug Enforcement Agency and Border Patrol officials that the majority of fentanyl is flowing through the border with Mexico with precursors coming from China. The goal he’s been told is to stop at least 25 percent of what’s being brought through. That’s not enough, he said.

“Obviously,” he said, “I’m not happy with 25 percent.”

Many arrested for moving fentanyl have said they are able to get it for 50 cents to $1 a pill and are able to turn it around for sale for between $5 to $15 a pill, Cabelka said. Many addicts become dealers to support their habits.

When arrested, police are finding a good source at getting to suppliers through phone records. It leads to breakthroughs in what can be complicated investigations, Cabelka said.

“The phones tell the story,” he said.

Last year, Lawton police reported taking between 70,000 to 80,000 pills off the local streets, according to Cabelka. But for every 100 taken out of circulation, another 500 flow out.

“They’re doing as much as they can,” he said. “I can’t brag on local law enforcement enough. They’re very hard cases to investigate and prosecute.”

One of the tools available, Cabelka said, is making the punishment a true reason to pause for thought before selling the drug, especially with the potential that an ensuing overdose can lead to murder charges.

“The only other solution I can think of, other than treatment and rehabilitation, is to prosecute those selling it and be very aggressive with the prosecution,” he said.

Cabelka pointed to a conviction made last week during the trial docket. A Comanche County jury found Mandy Lee Collett, 35, of Lawton, guilty of trafficking cocaine and fentanyl where a total of 25 years in prison was recommended. While the jury recommended seven years in prison for the cocaine charge, the fentanyl count received a 10-year recommendation.

“I think they recognized the severity of the fentanyl and recommended more time,” he said. “We were very happy with the outcome of it.”

Two more fentanyl-related cases are slated to be tried this week, including one of the first fentanyl overdose-related murder cases.