Powerful drug is killing dozens in SWFL, users don’t even know it’s there

There is a deadly drug problem in Southwest Florida. Several people arrested in the last month had fentanyl on them. It is a potent drug – the smallest amount can kill a person.

Fentanyl is showing up in large quantities on the street. People who are buying other drugs, such as cocaine, have no idea it is being cut with that deadly opiate. Often, they never find out, but the medical examiner does.

Adam Armstrong, who lives in Lee County, said so many people have died from drugs mixed with fentanyl that he has stopped counting. Armstrong was born and raised in Fort Myers. His addiction started with opiates.

“I just celebrated my 35th birthday,” Armstrong said. “I didn’t think I would make it being a heroin user.”

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office eventually arrested Armstrong. That started him on the road to recovery over three years ago.

” I told myself I’m not going back,” he said. “I can’t go back, because if I do, I’m dead.”

More and more drug dealers are sneaking fentanyl into illicit drugs. Armstrong said that is what happened to one of his best friends earlier this year.

“My mom sent me a text message and I’m looking at the phone,” Armstrong said. “It says Robbie’s dead.”

Brenda Iliff, executive director of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation in Naples, said people think they are buying cocaine or Xanax bars. Those drugs on the street actually have fentanyl in them in some cases. “They put it in drugs to cut the drug and extend the high to make it a better high,” Iliff said.

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