Former Los Angeles Times reporter Sam Quinones spoke to MTSU students and faculty about the opioid epidemic on April 7 in the Academic Classroom Building for National Public Health Week.
Quinones explained the inner workings of the drug trade and focused on his recent work, which recognizes small communities that rebuilt themselves after addiction during the opioid epidemic. People are less likely to participate in drug-related activities if they have convivial spaces and community engagement, Quinones said.
“We got into this drug problem because we spent so much time shredding the bonds of community that sustain the country,” Quinones said. “Now these drugs are coming to areas that are weakened by job loss.”
Quinones researched drug trafficking, immigration and the border during his 10 years at the L.A. Times. He studied the cause and effect of the opiate epidemic in small communities and the evolution of street drugs like cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine with the introduction of synthetic opioids like fentanyl and oxycodone.
His award-winning books, 2021’s “The Least of Us” and 2015’s “Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic,” discuss the rise of synthetic opiates in Columbus, Ohio, and their financial and social impact on community members.
In the 1990s, the Mexican drug cartel switched from growing poppies to creating synthetic opium in order to produce narcotics cheaper and at less risk, Quinones said. The over-prescription of opioids had a direct correlation to the increasing death rate of the time, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overprescribed opioid painkillers increased deaths significantly, Quinones said.
“The opioid painkillers contained drugs that were chemical cousins of heroin, [so] their heroin was much cheaper than the pills were,” Quinones said.
Quinones touched on points from his book, “The Least of Us,” like the rise of black tar heroin in West Virginia. He said the local cartel’s early business model resembled a pizza delivery service and ran efficiently.
“A lot of people did get addicted, and that’s when these guys leaped across the Mississippi River to Columbus, Ohio,” Quinones said.
It escalated to heavier substances in the 1990s after pharmaceutical companies like Purdue Pharma began to push opioid painkillers like OxyContin.
The opioid epidemic came in three waves. Doctors over-prescribed opioids and caused the first wave of the epidemic, Quinones said. A rise in heroin overdoses beginning in 2010 marked the second wave, and the increase in synthetic opioid overdose deaths three years later started the third wave, according to the CDC.
Amy Aldridge, the interim chair of MTSU’s Department of Health and Human Performance and vice provost for Academic Programs, attended the event and participated in the question-and-answer portion of the night. She appreciated the conversation on such a current issue.
“We’re always concerned about things that could affect not only our campus community, [but] where we live,” Aldridge said. “And we do know that these are issues in Middle Tennessee.”
University officials repurposed spaces to promote student wellness through building design, Aldridge said.
.Pragya, a public health student, participated in the question-and-answer portion of the night and attended the event to collect data for her public health class. She researched a paper on whether or not opioid overdoses stem from the home and community environment.
“I asked why it starts from the community, not just a single person, because we learn from our parents,” .Pragya said. “Like if my father is drinking, maybe I’ll get [a] habit from that.”
Quinones said it’s essential to focus on rebuilding community through human connection and spending time with one another. Supporting local businesses helps communities thrive, he said.
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