Fifty-nine-year-old Rick DelValle of New Britain, Connecticut says he used “every drug there is under the sun.” He had difficulties with heroin and keeping himself out of trouble which included a trip to jail. He relapsed after seven years then at the age of 43 DelValle officially became sober 15 years ago. Since getting off drugs in 2008 he founded New Beginning Recovery in 2014. The organization offers sober residential houses in the New Haven area.
When he was using drugs, fentanyl was not popular. Now in 2023, it is massive. DelValle remembers a time when one of his house managers named “Big John” who he recalls as being the size of a 6 foot 6 National Football League linebacker overdosed on fentanyl.
“This big man was sitting on a toilet with a needle sticking out of his arm, and his head and his lap blood coming out of his mouth,” said DelValle.
Drug overdose deaths have more than doubled in less than a decade. In 2014 the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported that 52,404 people died from a drug overdose in the United States. In 2021 that number increased to 106,699. Most of those overdoses comes from fentanyl as there were 70,601 in 2022. The CDC says that fentanyl is 50 times as potent as heroin. It also says the drug tends to be mixed in counterfeit opioid pills, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.
“Fentanyl is a new player that is less well is not studied as well as other opioids, and also just so much more dangerous. This, so much smaller of an amount of fentanyl can kill somebody,” says Alexandra Murphy a second-year Quinnipiac University medical student.
Connecticut has not been an outlier in the trend. From 2015 to 2022 overdose deaths in the state doubled from 736 to 1,464. The biggest difference between the two years has been fentanyl. In 2015 it was the 5th common drug type that resulted in an overdose death behind heroin, benzodiazepines, alcohol and cocaine. The drug was involved in 25.8% of the deaths in 2015 but in 2022 it was seen in 85.1% of deaths reported by CT.Gov.
“I’ve heard people say that because it could feel like it comes on stronger, and it’s more potent that they sometimes seek out substances that have fentanyl in them. Rather don’t, even though it’s more harmful,” Amanda Christiano a first-year Quinnipiac University medical student said.
New Haven, Connecticut has seen the biggest rise in overdose deaths out of every other residence county in the state since 2015 reported by Connecticut Gov. In eight years, there has been a 1335% increase in the area. “Tent City” between West River and Ella T. Grasso Boulevard soccer field had been a place where dozens of homeless people have lived for the years up until March when the city decided to remove the tents that were built reported by WTNH.
“I feel like Tent City is secluded, like you see the trash and you see a few people but they’re not all in a line,” said Hartley Gillean who was a former resident of New Haven.
Gorden Hiltz, is a peer support specialist for Aspire365 which is a twelve-month, in-home substance use disorder treatment solution. Hiltz specializes in topics like substance use disorders and addiction recovery. He says that other dangerous spots with high drug usage are Whalley Avenue and Legion Avenue. Hiltz also said that there are illegal weapons and fringes on the ground in those places. They are near Yale University and popular nightlife places.
“There are areas right outside of that section that you would get shot,” said Hiltz, “They know who doesn’t belong, it’s that territorial, so just for the fact that you didn’t grow up there you’re going to die.”
Hiltz served in the United States Marine Corps from February 2005 to January 2009 and says that veterans do not use drugs more than any other person. He said that alcoholism is more prevalent. But he says that it is common that they want to die but don’t want to commit suicide. Hiltz remembers a time when he called his friend who is a doctor about how he wanted to end his life by going back into the military.
“I just told him, I want to get deployed again, I wanted to die doing something that I thought had value and purpose,” said Hiltz.
DelValle who offers sober residential housing has mixed reviews on how the city is handling putting people in sober housing. He believes that the money should be used in better ways.
“That money should be used towards getting them into housing, getting more good sober houses,” Delvalle said, “Hotel rooms cost $150 to $200 a night and they’re spending that much money in the nighttime where a sober house is about $200 a week.”
DelValle believes that 12-step meetings are one of the best things people can do to stay clean. The American Addiction Centers says that the 12-Step Program created by Alcoholics Anonymous is a widely used treatment tool to help people understand the journey into, during, and after recovery.
An example of one of the steps is the eighth step which DelValle said is where recovering users write a list of all the people that they have harmed and go make amends with them.
“I was going to meetings every single day because I had nowhere else to go. Meetings are great because you walk in and you’re broken, beaten down,” said DelValle. “You got people there to hug you and love you.”
The first time DelValle went to meetings he said that he did not want anybody to go near him. He says that is a normal thing for people to feel the first time they attend meetings.
During 2015, 55–64-year-olds had 132 many overdose deaths in Connecticut, 25-34, 35-44 and 45-54 had more overdose deaths in that year says CT.gov. But as of Dec. 9th that age group has the most deaths in the state at 230 for 2023. One-hundred-seventy-six of those coming from fentanyl overdoses.
“I think the age of the person being affected by this is they’ve been shooting dope for 20 years,” says DelValle.
The question remains how can not only Connecticut but also the United States control drug use and make sure it does not increase for years to come. DelValle believes that the U.S. need to close the southern border to not have as many illegal drugs enter the country and Hiltz wants them to have a similar system as Portugal.
“We’ve (USA) been doing it wrong for 100 years… if you don’t stop you’re going to rehab… jail… kicking you out of the family,” Hiltz said, “Portugal has programs in place where the taxpayer dollars aren’t to lock somebody up for drugs. It sponsors them to go to work in the field that they’re passionate about.”
Hiltz, DelValle, Christiano, Murphy and Gillian all believe that the United States should be talking more about drugs in general to educate people.
“I think education would be a big win for America to combat this,” Murphy said.