JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
Representatives from federal, local and military law enforcement agencies discussed the causes and effects of opioids and illegal drug use on society and strategies to combat it at a community forum at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston June 7.
The forum, “The State of the Community Report: Understanding the Opioids and Illegal Drug Crisis from a Law Enforcement Perspective,” was hosted by the Joint Base San Antonio Substance Abuse Program at the Fort Sam Houston Theater.
Leslie Noel, Joint Base Substance Abuse Program prevention coordinator, said the forum was the first ever at JBSA to bring local, federal and military law enforcement officials together to talk about the opioids and illegal drug use crisis locally and nationally.
“The purpose is to actually bring the law enforcement and military community together so they can actually talk about understanding the opioid and illicit drug crisis in San Antonio, Texas and nationwide,” Noel said. “We want to develop a relationship between our federal and local police departments in law enforcement. We want to actually give our community, the military community, the opportunity to know what is actually going on.”
A panel of law enforcement officials answered questions presented by Staff Sgt. Tonya Ross, Company B, 187th Medical Battalion instructor and Sgt. Joni Reyna, 106th Signal Brigade behavioral health NCO in charge, on various topics and issues about opioids and illegal drug use.
The panel included Armando Talamantez, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent for the San Antonio District Office; Shane Bonnette, South Texas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program, or HIDTA, training coordinator; Sammie Anderson, U.S. Custom and Border Patrol assistant chief patrol agent; Sgt. Brian Bielefeld, San Antonio Police Department; and Richard Grose, JBSA Criminal Investigation Division assistant special agent in charge.
Bonnette said the opioid and illegal drug crisis has had negative repercussions in the local community, adding that Bexar County makes up 17 percent of adults in Texas seeking treatment for heroin addiction. In addition, there has been a 300 percent increase in Bexar County in the number of youths using synthetic opioids, making up 16 percent of youths in the state who use synthetic opioids.
Another disturbing trend of the opioid crisis locally is the affect it is having on newborns.
“Bexar County leads the nation in opioid-addicted babies,” Bonnette said. “That is crazy.”
Talamantez said the opioid crisis is made worse because many youth are abusing pharmaceutical drugs that were prescribed to their parents or grandparents, taking them out of medicine cabinets to use.
He said youth abusing opioid and pharmaceutical drugs is a big problem he has heard and seen at high schools he has visited while conducting drug prevention education. Talamantez said these students mistakenly believe taking the prescription drugs are safe because they have been prescribed by a doctor.
“When students believe it is safe or not as bad for them, they’re going to try it,” Talamantez said.
Answering a question from a community member in the audience, Talamantez said the opioid crisis affects every age, demographic and profession throughout the nation.
“Opioids don’t discriminate,” he said. “It hits everybody, teenagers, stay-at-home moms, the working community ... everybody from the blue collar workers to our doctors. Even those in our medical profession are getting addicted to some of these substances they are prescribing. This is across the board.”
Bielefeld said the key to drug prevention starts at home. He said the San Antonio Police Department has mental health units that help and assist children and parents who are having issues.
Gross said the local U.S. Army Criminal Investigative Command is trained what to look out for when it comes to opioids and narcotics. He said there has not been an increase in opioid and illegal drug usage at JBSA installations, but that CID is prepared to deal with the problem.
He said the best way to prevent the problem from growing at JBSA is through education and prevention at the unit level, including having an effective drug detection program and communicating with service members.
“I think we need to get back into the barracks and look into these Soldiers rooms when we can,” Grose said. “When we talk to these individuals, these Soldiers, we get intelligence from them and we use that intelligence. Ideally, if we get the right intelligence, we can lead that into a covert buy which can lead into other things.”